Boomerang:

For more than a decade, Pakistan’s powerful and secretive intelligence service has fuelled a treacherous dynamic in South Asia by supporting Islamic militants in Afghanistan and Kashmir. Now comes the distressing, but not surprising, news that the ISI has lost control of some of these Taliban and Qaeda-linked networks.

The militants have turned on their former patrons and helped carry out a record number of suicide attacks inside Pakistan in 2007, including possibly the one that killed Benazir Bhutto.

The US, already bogged down in Iraq and Afghanistan, must be extremely careful about further military entanglement in Pakistan. As a long-term solution, it must encourage political and legal reforms and spend as quickly as possible a new $750 million allocation that could improve the lives of Pakistanis and deprive militants of new converts. Other aid must be heavily focused on building democratic institutions.

The only way for Musharraf to regain any credibility is by ensuring that the Feb. 18 election is free and fair. Jailed activists must be released. Ousted judges must be restored. Journalists must be able to report freely. International monitors must have maximum access to assess the voting. And Musharraf must work cooperatively with whatever leaders the election produces. — International Herald Tribune