Zardari has won Bush admin's backing, papers say while assessing him

NEW YORK - Asif Ali Zardari, PPP Co-Chairman and the front-runner in the presidential race, has won the "reluctant support of the Bush administration, which views him as a willing partner in the campaign against terrorism," according to a dispatch in The New York Times on Friday.

In its dispatch on Saturday's vote, The Washington Post said, "If Zardari is elected, his ascension will consolidate his party's hold on the government and bring a new era in US-Pakistan relations after years of White House backing for Pervez Musharraf's military rule. Faced with intensifying US demands to quash the threat from the rising Taliban insurgency within the country's borders, Pakistan's next president will have to navigate the choppy waters of the country's alliance with the United States at a time when anti-American sentiment here has never been stronger."

Quoting analysts, the Post added, "Zardari may be just the man for the job of managing the Pakistan-US alliance. He is a former resident of New York's affluent Upper East Side. He often chooses well-tailored two-piece suits over the traditional, loose-fitting salwar-kameez that is the de rigueur dress of politicians in this majority-Muslim nation."

But The New York Times said, "It remains to be seen how forcefully he will act against militants in the face of Pakistani public opposition to American pressure. Nor is it clear how much influence he exerts over the still powerful military and the nation's premier spy agency, the Inter-Services Intelligence."

And in assessing Zardari's credentials for Pakistan's top post, The Times said he is "a man known more as a wheeler-dealer than a leader. He will start his tenure burdened by a history of corruption allegations that cloud his reputation even as they remain unproved."

At the same time, it said, Zardari has shown "canny political skills as he has moved in the last two weeks to outmanoeuvre his former coalition partner, Nawaz Sharif."

"But with the economy in a downward spiral and foreign exchange reserves perilously low, Mr Zardari's reputation for using political perches to benefit himself and his friends has left many here and in Washington worried about how he will restore economic confidence," Times' correspondent Jane Perlez wrote.

"There are concerns about the oversight of a $15 billion package of non-military aid proposed by the Democratic vice presidential nominee, Senator Joseph R Biden Jr of Delaware, and backed by the Bush administration."