January 28, 2008
"[President Musharraf] has done what he has said he would do. He took off his uniform. He's ended the state of emergency. The next step is free and fair elections. But this is a really crucial time for Pakistan. We have a good relationship with President Musharraf and our Ambassador is in constant contact with him. The key here is that these elections move Pakistan forward on the democratic path. That's the key." --Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Interview with Sylvie Lanteaume and Lachlan Carmichael of Agence France-Presse, December 20, 2007
“While maximally free and fair elections are a necessary precondition for stabilizing Pakistan in the near term, the elections alone are insufficient. … To pre-empt further post-election crises, it is urgent that President Musharraf seek political rapprochement with the major parties, the judiciary, human rights groups and other civil society organizations. Such a process may afford an opportunity for Musharraf to embrace a greater symbolic role and recede from politics without further diminishing his legacy… Such a process of reconciliation may also afford an opportunity for the political parties and the army to come to an understanding that permits the army to confidently re-focus on its primary task of securing the country while the politicians assume responsibility for the domestic affairs of the state.”
--C. Christine Fair, The Rand Corporation, testimony before the Foreign Affairs Committee, Subcommittee on the Middle East and South Asia, “U.S.-Pakistan Relations: Assassination, Instability, and the Future of U.S. Policy”, January 16, 2008