Captain Ed highlights an additional positive outcome from the Pakistani elections — by accepting an unpleasant electoral outcome, Musharraf marginalizes the radical Islamists. There is also a corollary effect in western politics.  By accepting the negative result, Musharraf has definitely refuted the claims of many critics who cast him as a hopelessly corrupt despot.

To some such critics, anything Pakistan’s government could ever do would be seen in a negative light.  Theirs is not a project of analysis, but rather propaganda, centered on either enmity towards Pakistan or hatred of Musharraf for his cooperation with the Bush administration.  Indeed, more than a few anti-Musharraf rants have carried a bizarre seasoning of BDS, as if the complex welter of Pakistani politics could be reduced to the simplistic formulations of American politics.

But the acceptance of democracy even in the face of adversity is a sign of political maturity and a refutation of charges of despotism.  Congratulations are due Musharraf and skepticism is due to some of his more overheated critics, especially when they refuse to even acknowledge their own prior misreadings.