“Pervez Musharraf has left the stage, but the Pakistani drama continues, mostly to very bad reviews. The government has lost control of large swaths of territory to Islamic extremists. Bombers roam at will, bringing havoc and destruction in cities across the country. … The coalition government headed by Nawaz Sharif and Asif Ali Zardari has had little to show for its six months of power, and is now on the brink of falling apart over the issue of reinstating supreme court justices. … Musharraf’s position had become untenable, and he was right to step down rather than put up a distracting, and ultimately losing, battle to retain power. He saw that the army, still the most powerful institution in the country, was not going to back him — not this time around.” (08/26/08)