Front page of today's THE NEW YORK TIMES

PAKISTAN ISSUE

A suicide that claimed nearly two dozen lives earlier this week in Pakistan’s second largest city, Lahore, is part of a growing trend of violence that claimed thousands of lives in the past year, including former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto. In the wake of this growing violence, the United States and other countries should resist the impulse to offer unconditional support to Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf, who has portrayed himself as a last bastion against the terrorists.
In Pakistan and other key countries, the United States has made the mistake of putting so much focus on individual leaders and personalities, when a broader approach that seeks to support institutions and develop the entire country is what is needed now more than ever. Indeed, the turmoil in Pakistan exposes dramatic shortcomings and inconsistencies in U.S. policy toward Pakistan dating back to the Cold War up through the present day.