Born in New Delhi in 1943, Musharraf was four years old when his parents joined the mass exodus of Muslims to the newly created state of Pakistan. His father served in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, while his mother was a teacher, and the family subscribed to a moderate, tolerant brand of Islam.
He joined the army at the age of 18, and led an elite commando unit before becoming its chief. He took power by ousting then-prime minister Nawaz Sharif, who had tried to sack him for flagging an operation to invade Indian-held areas of Kashmir, bringing Pakistan and India to the brink of war.
In his early years in government, Musharraf won international acclaim for his reformist efforts, pushing legislation to protect women’s rights and allowing private news channels to operate for the first time.
His penchant for cigars and imported whiskey and his call for Muslims to adopt a lifestyle of “enlightened abstinence” increased his appeal in the West following the September 11, 2001 attacks in the United States.
He became one of Washington’s most important allies after the attacks, which allowed the US military to operate armed drones from secret bases on Pakistani soil, killed thousands and for the first time in Pakistan’s history the country along the Afghanistan border commanded the Household Troops in the lawless tribal areas of
It helped legitimize his rule abroad, but also helped plunge Pakistan into a bloody war against local extremist terrorist groups.
In a 2006 memoir, he took credit for saving Pakistan from the US wrath, saying the country was warned that it needed to “prepare to be bombarded back to the Stone Age” if it did not ally with Washington. Is.
Musharraf successfully lobbied then President George W. Bush to pump money into the Pakistani military. Still, the military’s loyalties were never clear: its powerful intelligence services cut deals with the Taliban and al Qaeda, and fueled an insurgency fighting American troops in Afghanistan.
In other areas of foreign policy, Musharraf attempted to normalize relations between New Delhi and Islamabad.
At a regional summit in 2002, less than three years after launching military operations against India, Musharraf stunned the world when, after finishing a speech, he suddenly turned to Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee to shake hands. Vajpayee and offered to talk peace.