Pakistan's alliance with the US in the conflict in Afghanistan has brought the nation's powerful military full circle -- from pro-Western, to Islamic extremist and back to pro-Western.
In the past few days, Pakistan's president, General Pervez Musharraf, has reshuffled senior ranks to remove generals with pro-Taliban leanings at a time when his government has lined up behind the US.
The move is not without risks for Musharraf, who took power in 1999 in a military coup. His interior minister, Moinuddin Haider, estimates that 30 percent of the 750,000-strong military harbor extreme Islamic sentiments.
Ironically, it was Afghanistan that transformed Pakistan's Western-style army into a force with Muslim fundamentalists in key positions.
The late president Zia ul-Haq, himself a Muslim extremist, welcomed Islamic ideologues and promoted them to the rank of general.
Ordinarily, that would have put Pakistan at odds with Washington, which traditionally favored this country over its archrival India, which was close to Moscow during the Cold War.
Yet the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan prompted the US to turn to Pakistan as a partner in supporting Muslim extremists fighting Moscow's forces.
Zia in turn favored resistance fighters such as Gulbudin Hekmatyer, among the most radical Islamists, and encouraged the US administration under former president Ronald Reagan to channel billions of dollars worth of weapons to them.
Zia was killed in a plane crash in 1988. However, his influence remains strong within the officer corps and in the rank-and-file. That is, in part, one of the reasons for Pakistan's close links to the Taliban until the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks forced Musharraf to choose between them and the rest of the world.
That decision was controversial within the military, according to sources in the armed forces speaking on condition of anonymity.
In order to dump the Taliban, Musharraf had to move against senior officers -- some of whom were instrumental in his own successful coup against prime minister Nawaz Sharif.
The realignment began last weekend with the removal of Lieutenant-General Mohammed Aziz Khan from the powerful position of corps commander in Lahore. He was given the largely ceremonial job of chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Aziz had been considered perhaps the most powerful man in the country and his approval was required for most decisions and appointments within the military regime.
For example, Aziz had blocked plans by Musharraf to prevent abuse of the country's blasphemy laws, which make it a crime to insult Islam. The charge, punishable by death, has been applied against non-Muslim minorities for years.
In the personnel shuffle, Musharraf appointed Lieutenant-General Mohammed Yousuf as vice chief of staff of the army. He passed over another leading fundamentalist, Lieutenant-General Muzaffar Usmani, now deputy chief of staff.
Usmani's position becomes redundant with the appointment of Yousuf, who is commonly referred to as "Joe."
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