Published December 30th, 2007 by Future Atlas
Pakistan: stability after Bhutto
Gareth Evans of the International Crisis Group put summarized the impact of Bhutto’s assassination succinctly: “Prospects for democracy and stability in Pakistan are much dimmer without her.”
As for future directions, new data from Pew offers mixed messages:
- Support for terrorism has plummeted, with only 9% of Pakistanis saying that suicide attacks against civilians are justified.
- On the other hand, while only 15% of Pakistanis have favorable views of the US, more than twice that have some or a lot of confidence in Osama bin Laden to “do the right thing” in world affairs. This is down from 51% in 2005, but still indicates latent potential support for extremist views, despite skepticism that Pakistan is headed in this direction.