Pakistan anxious as Zardari poised for presidency
ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Pakistani legislators are set to elect as president the late Benazir Bhutto's controversial widower Asif Ali Zardari on Saturday, making a choice many Pakistanis see leading to a fresh phase of political instability.
His wife's assassination last December and the victory of her grieving party in a February election has catapulted Zardari to the top in Pakistan's switch to civilian-led democracy after nine years under former army chief and president, Pervez Musharraf.
The presidential vote is a three-way contest, but Zardari's party and its allies have a clear majority among lawmakers in the two-chamber parliament and four provincial legislatures that make up the electoral college.
Desperate for stability in a nuclear-armed Muslim state whose cooperation is key to victory over al Qaeda and the success of the West's mission in Afghanistan, the United States is counting on Zardari to keep Pakistan committed to the war on terrorism.
"I will work to defeat the domestic Taliban insurgency and to ensure that Pakistan territory is not used to launch terrorist attacks on our neighbours or on NATO forces in Afghanistan," Zardari said in an article in the Washington Post on Thursday.
The United States doesn't trust his chief rival Nawaz Sharif, fearing he could pander to Islamists.
The dangers that lie ahead were underscored on Wednesday by an unsuccessful assassination attempt on Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani, a Zardari nominee, that the Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility for.
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