Several questions come to mind:
1. Why did Musharraf see the need to step down?
2. What do we know about the new guy besides that he's a Punjabi and a USA CGSC graduate?
3. What are the impacts for OEF in AF?
4. What are the impacts on the search for UBL/neutralizing of AQ in view of the general belief that the Northwest Tribal regions are a primary launching point for global "Islamic" terrorism?

From my "armchair" in the UK:

1. Musharraf to retain the presidency, not by popular vote, but by national and provincial legislators, had to compromise and step down from Army CoStaff. He assumes that as president he can retain power over the Army, a point many would challenge. Retaining both posts was no longer acceptable, for example Benazir Bhutto's widely reported deal with Musharraf was conditional on him standing down. How the Pakistani electorate will vote early in 2008 is unclear, will a coalition between Musharraf's supporters and Bhutto win?

2. I've not searched, but somewhere is a commentary on the Pakistani Army hierachy. The Pakistani Security Research Unit at Bradford University, UK maybe be worth checking and Indian sites - like saag.org and satp.org.

3. None, given Pakistan's stop-go cycle of military action in troublespots, determined by a variety of factors (internal politics, divisions within the Army over who is the enemy, external pressure and currently an apparent reluctance to confront in the lower ranks, let alone fire at extremists).

4. None, action in the Northern Territories is even more difficult than in North-West Province. The Pakistani state is even weaker there. If UBL is there. In NWFP stop-go remains and confronting AQ is not a top Pakistani priority. I am sceptical that Ms Bhutto as Prime Minister in 2008 would support a US air strike on his location, as reported earlier this week on Al-Jazeera.

Behind all the rhetoric realistically what can the USA / UK expect from Pakistan in the fight against terrorism?

davidbfpo