Andrew Hill
Islamabad - The United States welcomed a pledge by Pakistan's new army ruler, General Pervaz Musharraf, to restore democratic rule but lamented that no timeframe was set on Monday.
"Yes, we were disappointed at that, the lack of specific timeframe, but we were also heartened by his pledge that the military would remain in power only as long as absolutely necessary," ambassador William Milam said.
"This is something we are going to remind him of from time to time. I am sure others will to," the ambassador said, referring to European Union and other calls for a speedy return to civilian politics.
Milam was commenting on Musharraf's Sunday night broadcast in which Pakistan's Chief Executive pledged that the army would rule no longer than necessary after toppling the government of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in a bloodless coup last Tuesday.
He was broadly upbeat in his assessment of Musharraf's keynote speech and welcomed an offer to renew dialogue with India and a pledge to seek a representative government in Afghanistan, a key irritant in Pakistani-US relations.
Milam dismissed speculation that Musharraf had "extremist" Islamic leanings and said he was viewed as someone Washington could do business with.
"He seems like a pragmatic, moderate person, intelligent and patriotic and wanting to turn this country around," he said.
The US envoy said Washington would take a wait-and-see attitude on future International Monetary Fund loans to Pakistan on which the crumbling economy is largely dependent.
"This is part of a wait-and-see position we have got in general. We will wait and see how things go in the next few weeks" he said.
Pakistan has only $1.5 billion in foreign exchange reserves, barely four months import cover, and faces a hard currency crunch over its balance of payments and loan repayments, financial analysts said.
The U.S. envoy welcomed Musharraf's offer to renew dialogue with India months after the two nuclear-capable rivals came close to a fourth war because of the occupation of India's Kargil heights by Pakistani-backed infiltration.
He also welcomed Musharraf's offer to withdraw troops from Pakistan's borders with India and hoped that the new regime would extend the withdrawal to the military Line of Control dividing disputed Kashmir.
"I was heartened by his offer of dialogue with India and the unilateral concession he offered to make... We would like it go to go further.
"We hope both sides will get into a serious unconditional dialogue as soon as they can," said Milam, who also welcomed Musharraf's pledge to observe nuclear restraint.
REPRESENTATIVE GOVERNMENT IN KABUL
Milam said that Musharraf's call for a representative government in Kabul was welcomed by Washington, which has been pressing the ruling Taleban to set up a broad-based administration to satisfy all ethnic and political factions.
But he regretted there was no clean-cut commitment to crack down on terrorism and Saudi-born terrorism suspect Osama bin Laden, who is a "guest" of the Taleban and is charged over the bombings of U.S. African embassies last year which killed 200.
"We would have liked to have heard something on terrorism and and, shall we say, anti-terrorism and Osama bin Laden," the ambassador said.
"It seems unlikely to me that a real representative government would be a supporter of terrorism."
Pakistan is a key supporter of the Taleban, an Islamic movement which controls 90 percent of the country but is not recognised as a legitimate government by the international community because of war, drug production and bin Laden.
Milam said he had been assured by the military that Sharif, his brother Shahbaz, and other members of his government, who have not been seen since the takeover, were in good health.
"We have inquired and been reassured about their health and safety and well being. And I think that is really what concerned us," he said. - Reuters