WASHINGTON: The standoff at the Red Mosque in Islamabad is attracting worldwide attention and nowhere more so than in the United States.

There, the Bush administration continues to express support for the government of President Pervez Musharraf.

But several leading analysts of relations between Washington and Islamabad said that may prove to be a short-sighted strategy.

Policymakers in Washington are keeping a close eye on the actions of President Pervez Musharraf and his radical opponents.

At the US State Department, officials described the situation at the mosque as an internal matter for the Pakistani authorities to deal with and they are publicly continuing to express support for the country's President.

Sean McCormack, US State Department Spokesman, said: "The threat of extremism in Pakistan has been one that's been around for quite some time and actually, General Musharraf has taken a lot of steps to address it, to open up the Pakistani political system and to try and implement economic reforms.

"There's still a lot more to do in that regard, but we support him in those efforts. He is as much under threat from violent extremism as we or any of Pakistan's other neighbours might be."

But other voices in Washington are warning the Bush administration that the siege at the mosque is just the latest indication of the Pakistani government's weakness.

Stephen Cohen is a Senior Fellow in Foreign Policy Studies at the Brookings Institution.

He said: "The Red Mosque is not the central crisis, but its a small pulse in a series of pulses that have been going on for the past year. I think the 9 March case of the Chief Justice who was effectively fired, plus the riots in Karachi, plus this (incident) show that Musharraf has failed to act quickly and vigorously enough against the extremists in Pakistan."

And other analysts contend that the Bush administration should be de-linking itself from the personality of President Musharraf, in order to better prepare the United States for any political change that may occur in Pakistan.

Teresita Schaffer was Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for South Asia under President Bill Clinton and she said: "I think the US needs to de-personalise its policy toward Pakistan somewhat and to focus on the relationship with Pakistan instead of just on the relationship with Musharraf.

"I think they need to be looking more at the 160 million Pakistanis and the fact that no matter what happens with the immediate future of Musharraf's government, we're going to have to have a relationship with Pakistan."

Bush administration officials are not betraying any worries about President Musharraf's future, despite the crisis at the Red Mosque.

They said that turmoil is something President Musharraf can handle. But others here think it's time for a major re-think of US policy towards Pakistan.


- CNA/so