A pact with Pakistan

Powell went to Islamabad to seal a pact with Musharraf that may be justified only as the least of many evils. For its part, the Bush administration pretends not to mind that Musharraf pardoned the father of Pakistan's nuclear weapons program, Abdul Qadeer Khan, for selling nuclear technology, designs, and materials to North Korea, Libya, and Iran. Musharraf was army chief and then president while Khan's proliferation activities were going forward full throttle, yet Powell did not demand that his fellow general conduct an investigation of what the army brass, the military intelligence service, and Pakistan's political leadership knew about Khan's nuclear trafficking.

Instead, Musharraf is fulfilling his part of the pact by sending troops into the tribal area of South Waziristan to hunt for Al Qaeda fugitives. Not so coincidentally, Powell announced that Pakistan has become a "major non-NATO ally," a category that includes Australia, New Zealand, Israel, and Egypt among others and that enables Pakistan to receive priority delivery of surplus US defense materiel.

Powell insisted that making Pakistan a major non-NATO ally was not a quid pro quo for whatever Musharraf is disclosing privately to the United States about his government's investigation of Khan's nuclear smuggling network. Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz was less delicate when he told the Far Eastern Economic Review that accepting Musharraf's method of dealing with Khan "gives us more leverage." Wolfowitz suggested it was in America's interest to "give Musharraf a somewhat stronger hand in Pakistan" by tolerating his "pardon of A. Q. Khan for all he's done." But Wolfowitz added a crucial qualifier, saying Musharraf has incurred "a kind of I.O.U." and must give "a full accounting of everything that's happened."

It is true that no pact with Musharraf can be justified if he does not provide Americans and the International Atomic Energy Agency with the information needed to locate and roll up Khan's entire international network. But there are other actions he must take -- actions beyond the current raids on Al Qaeda hideouts. To enable Afghanistan to hold elections later this year, Musharraf has to attack Taliban forces sheltering in Pakistan as aggressively as he is now pursuing Al Qaeda. He must also keep a tight rein on domestic Islamist extremists and persist with promising peace overtures to India.

To justify its pact with Musharraf, the administration must exercise the leverage it acquired by overlooking Musharraf's fibs about his military colleagues' complicity with Khan.