Bhutto Sweeps Out--and Leaves ‘em Dazzled

NEW YORK —  She out-toasted Sen. Edward M. Kennedy in Boston. Her speech to Congress brought the tough, conservative New Hampshire Republican Sen. Gordon J. Humphrey to tears. And she charmed a beaming former President Richard M. Nixon during a private chat at the Waldorf Towers in New York.

But, as Pakistan’s 35-year-old Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto left for home Saturday night after a whirlwind, five-day state visit to the nation where she spent her college years, Bhutto left behind much more than impressions of glamour, wit and charm.

The visit by the new leader of one of America’s most strategic allies in Asia has led to a significant shift in both countries’ policies on war-torn Afghanistan.

In less than a week, Bhutto also created a new symbol here for the Islamic religion at a time when the radicalism and influence of the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini appears to be on the wane.

Aid Hike Seems Certain

And the visit, which has virtually assured increases in the more than $600 million in American economic and military aid already committed to a country that ranks as the third-largest U.S. aid recipient, has helped strengthen Bhutto’s hand at home. There, she continues to face strident opposition from heavily financed religious and political conservative groups.

“I think it can be termed a very, very successful visit for many reasons,” said Zulfikar Ali Khan, a Bhutto adviser who will become ambassador to Washington in July.

“Certainly, the renewed U.S. support is very important, not only because the economic and military assistance is necessary to strengthen our new democracy but because America controls the major international lending institutions. But the basic strength still comes from within Pakistan.”

And in Pakistan today, as it was for Bhutto throughout last week, one of the most critical issues is Afghanistan. The faltering military campaign of the U.S.- and Pakistani-backed Islamic rebels after the Soviet Union withdrew the last of its troops in February has forced serious rethinking in Washington and Islamabad.

During her 50-minute, one-on-one meeting with President Bush in the Oval Office last Tuesday, it was Bhutto who took the initiative, according to several senior Pakistani officials. And the result, in Zulfikar’s words, was “a very significant shift” in the overall Afghan strategy of the two countries.

In an official East Room ceremony after the meeting, the two leaders announced only that they had agreed to commit themselves to a political solution to the Afghan war, while continuing to provide the huge arms, transport and food shipments that have helped the moujahedeen rebels in their “holy war” against the Red Army and the Soviet-backed troops of the Kabul regime.

Behind the scenes, though, aides to both leaders indicated that the two countries have now agreed that such a settlement should include a far more broadly based government than the fundamentalist-dominated rebel government in exile that was created last February in Islamabad.

May Include Marxists

Zulfikar speculated that a new interim government now could even include members of the ruling, pro-Moscow People’s Democratic Party of Afghanistan, providing the party itself is removed, along with Afghanistan’s Soviet-backed President Najibullah.

“Whatever they might say about Marxism and Leninism, they have a very strong sense of nationhood in them first and foremost,” he said of the party. “And if they think there’s a chance of setting up a truly popular government, they might just say, ‘For the sake of Afghanistan, enough . . . bloodshed.’

“For us, it is a very, very major problem, because what happens if there is a (worsening) civil war there? There will be a huge new influx of refugees. And no one is prepared to handle that.”

Pakistan already is suffering under the weight of 3.5 million Afghan refugees, who have crossed Afghanistan’s eastern border since the Soviet invasion in 1979, and the Pakistani government is deeply concerned about “compassion fatigue,” which it fears will greatly reduce the international refugee aid coming into Pakistan.

Zulfikar conceded, however, that the new political approach to Afghanistan is likely to be met with resentment among the fundamentalists who now dominate the rebel alliance, which was forged largely by the United States and Pakistan years ago as a conduit for arms and humanitarian aid.

“Their voice won’t be as strong as it is today,” he said. “But they also have to realize just how urgent this problem really is.”

There were other substantial gains from the visit, which was diminished only because of the China crisis.

Pakistan’s bid to acquire 60 F-16 jet fighters--a $1.4-billion purchase that several congressmen had challenged because they felt the Afghan war is winding down--as well as other military equipment is now all but certain.

Assured on Nuclear Program

And key leaders in Congress, which also was considering blocking Pakistan’s request for sophisticated antitank weaponry, indicated they will not only approve the Bush Administration’s request but also will accept the President’s expected certification that Pakistan is not building a nuclear weapon--a denial that Bhutto stressed over and over throughout the week.

Such successes are certain to strengthen Bhutto’s support in the powerful Pakistan military, which has ruled the country for 26 of its 41 years through coups and martial-law regimes--among them that of the late Zia ul-Haq, who overthrew Bhutto’s father in 1977 and sanctioned his execution.

‘New Toys’ for Army

“With all these new toys for the army, it necessarily bolsters her position,” said one Pakistani political analyst.

During a Friday night speech to the Asia Society in New York, in which Bhutto detailed the economic disaster in her country, she stressed again and again her commitment to privatization and capitalism--a departure from the socialist leanings of her father, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto.

The prime minister told the audience of wealthy business people that “Pakistan’s social and demographic indicators are among the poorest in the world”--a nation of 100 million with an astronomical 3% birthrate, where only a third have access to clean water, 17% have access to medical facilities, 74% are illiterate and life expectancy is just 54 years. And she told the group that only private investment can save Pakistan.