After Musharraf who is the next buddy in Pakistan for USA?

Question

Pakistan is front line ally of USA in war on terror

Answer 1

The Bush administration is running out of buddies worldwide. Just lost a lot of friends in Georgia, and they love America so much they named a street after Bush. Fortunately, the Bush administration is also running out of time. Obama should be able to handle the international diplomacy well. The best American at international diplomacy is Bill Richardson, who is commonly thought to be a lock for Secretary of State if Obama wins (or possibly VP).

Bhutto's party (even with Benazir Bhutto dead) is progressive and democratic (small d, not as in the Democratic party). They want US support to help them gain control over the military (last few democratic governments in Pakistan were overthrown) and to take control of the full government in the next election over the pro-taliban party with whom they now share power pretty evenly. At the same time, if they are seen as too pro-American, they'll be painted as too much like Musharraf, which is a bad thing in Pakistani politics today, so they won't just do whatever we ask.