WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States on Friday played down
electoral gains by Islamist parties in Pakistan, an ally in President
Bush's war on terrorism, and said it hoped all parties would reject
extremism.
The State Department said Washington would accept the results of the
elections if observers confirmed the initial impression that voting was
relatively free and orderly.
The United States welcomes President Pervez Musharraf's commitment to
hand over chief executive authority to a new prime minister early in
November, spokesman Richard Boucher said.
Hard-line Islamic parties opposed to the U.S. role in Afghanistan made
gains in the elections, potentially giving them the balance of power in a
coalition set to take over from a military government.
The religious parties used anger at Pakistan's cooperation in the U.S.
military campaign to virtually sweep the board in conservative parts of
western Pakistan bordering Afghanistan.
Their success could complicate the U.S. military's attempts to crack
down on Taliban fugitives and members of al Qaeda in the troubled border
region.
Boucher told a daily State Department briefing: "There is an alliance
of six religious parties who did quite well in Baluchistan and the
Northwest Frontier Province. It will be one of several parties in the
parliament."
"We think that Pakistan's people and government have already
demonstrated their strong opposition to terrorism and extremism, their
desire to move their society in a more moderate and stable direction.
"We have said we welcome that. We look forward to working with them on
that. We hope that all parties will be committed to moving in that
direction," he added.
The spokesman said the success of the Islamists was not necessarily a
failure for the United States, but Washington would continue to expand its
"public diplomacy" efforts to explain U.S. policy.
He called the elections an important milestone in restoring democracy
in Pakistan after the 1999 coup by Musharraf, who overthrew an elected
government.
The United States, because of its need for Musharraf's cooperation in
Afghanistan and the border regions, has been relatively tolerant of his
domestic political strategy.
Musharraf has given himself the right to dissolve parliament,
institutionalized the military's role in politics and effectively barred
two former prime ministers in exile from returning or ever becoming prime
minister again.
In August, when Musharraf changed the constitution to his own
advantage, Bush said he appreciated that Musharraf was "still tight with
us in the war against terror."
But Boucher said: "The government and political leaders now have a
joint responsibility to ensure the smooth transition to a sustainable form
of democracy and civilian rule.
"The next crucial step is the transfer of power to the new national
assembly and establishing its role. We are pleased to see that President
Musharraf has said that he expects to hand over chief executive authority
to a new prime minister some time around November 3."
Afghanistan
