'Zardari yet to gain trust of Pak army in combating terrorism'

London, Sept 21 (PTI) Amid a series of deadly terrorist strikes, Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari is facing the challenging task of gaining the "trust" of the powerful army and building a consensus against terrorism and extremism within political establishment, a premier think-tank has said.

Zardari's top priority is to fight terrorism and
Islamist militancy in the tribal areas bordering Afghanistan.
But, the Pakistani army remains unable or unwilling to counter
effectively the resurgent Taliban with over 110,000 troops
deployed in the area, the International Institute for
Strategic Studies (I.I.S.S.) here said.

"Zardari's major challenge will be to gain the trust of
the army and build a consensus against terrorism and Islamist
extremism among the political establishment," the I.I.S.S.
said in its just-released 'Strategic Survey 2008', the annual
review of world affairs assessing global developments.

Noting that the situation in Pakistan's Federally
Administrated Tribal Areas (F.A.T.A.) was worsening, the
I.I.S.S. said that to pursue the campaign on terror, Zardari
will need to balance the conflicting interests of growing U.S.
pressure for military strikes in the restive tribal areas with
the Pakistani army's decreasing tolerance for such attacks.


With the Taliban controlling large swathes of the
tribal areas and an increase in attacks against coalition
forces in Afghanistan, the U.S. is now inclined to strike
these 'safe havens' in an attempt to defeat the Taliban, it
noted.

However, to reduce the growing public opposition to the
government's handling of issues like terrorism, extremism and
other problems facing the nation, Zardari needs to build
bridges with the major opposition parties, the I.I.S.S. said.

"Most importantly, Zardari will need to ensure that the
ensuing domestic political turbulence, heightened by the
growing economic crisis, does not place his own government at
risk from the army," it said. PTI AKJ