And it's official

Jane Perlez of the NY Times Reports:

Under pressure over impending impeachment charges, President Pervez Musharraf announced he would resign Monday, ending nearly nine years as one of the United States’ most important allies in the campaign against terrorism.

Speaking on television from his presidential office here at 1 p.m., Mr. Musharraf, dressed in a gray suit and tie, said that after consulting with his aides, “I have decided to resign today.” He said he was putting national interest above “personal bravado.”

And with that, we can move Pakistan fully back into the democratic states column. That isn’t to say this will be a panacea, Pakistan has had elected leadership before, including many of the current party leaders, that have failed their country. But the way the removal of Musharraf went down, first pressure from the courts then from the parliament may strengthen democratic norms. Hopefully the courts issue will be easily resolved now as there was no way the chief justice and Musharraf would both be in the government again.

As for the implications for the U.S., we can actually probably expect less of a carte blanche when going after the Taliban or Al Qaeda in Pakistani territory. I hope in the mid-term getting Pakistan’s house in order will make the north west territories issues easier to handle. Of course, we’re also going to need to get a deal between Pakistan and Afghanistan, in some ways Pakistan can benefit from an unstable neighbor.