Here is the WSJ's perspective on Pakistan

The Wall Street Journal editors write:

Amid rising protests against the government--some of it by secular democrats, some by militant jihadis--it's easy to forget that Pakistan has prospered under Mr. Musharraf and his prime minister, former Citibank executive Shaukat Aziz. Annual GDP growth averaged 7.2% in the past three years, according to World Bank data; the inflation rate, which hovered at 23.8% in 2000, has fallen to single digits. International confidence is reflected in foreign direct investment, which rose to $2.2 billion in 2005 from $308 million five years earlier.

Relations with India may be as good as they've been since 1947. The government responded well to the devastating October 2005 earthquake in Kashmir, preventing what many thought would be a far worse humanitarian crisis. Pakistan was instrumental in capturing key September 11 plotters Ramzi Binalshibh and Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, among others. A.Q. Khan was put under house arrest, and his network rolled up. For his troubles, Mr. Musharraf has repeatedly been the target of jihadist assassination attempts, the most recent earlier this month.

As the editors conclude:

Though the Bush Administration is glibly mocked for making Mr. Musharraf an "exception" to the Bush Doctrine, the U.S. has no interest in destabilizing a nuclear-armed government already under a jihadist threat. Jimmy Carter made that mistake with the Shah of Iran....

What the U.S. can do, however, is nudge Mr. Musharraf toward a compromise with his non-radical opposition that would restore genuine democracy while strengthening his ability to challenge the jihadists. It is the best option the general has.

As to what this compromise might look like:

If he agrees to resign his military commission, he could strike a power-sharing agreement with non-religious opponents (he has reportedly held secret meetings with Ms. Bhutto). This could allow him to remain in power past parliamentary elections later this year.

If you think American presidential campaigns are nasty...

In Pakistan, they're downright bloody. From the South Asian news service, the ANI:

The opposition Pakistan Peoples Party has blamed former military ruler General Zia ul Haq's remnants for the Islamist attack that took at least 17 lives in Islamabad on Tuesday.

'The mastermind behind the blasts and suicide attacks wants to create an impression across the world that an Islamist movement runs in Pakistan,' former federal ministers Khursheed Shah, Yousuf Talpur and Professor N D Khan and former Senator Taj Haider said in a joint statement.

Almost three hundred people have been killed in the past several weeks. While Mssrs. Shah, Talpur, and Haider's theory is not the only one out there, the wave of killings does seem to have something to do with stakeholders in the upcoming presidential elections.

The head of the PPP, incidentally, is Benazir Bhutto, the former prime minister of Pakistan who now lives in exile and is by all accounts keen to return - if she gets to run things.