Despite the frequent criticisms of Pakistan's lack of cooperation in the fight against terrorism, it's now clear Musharraf is beginning to help the West more forcefully. The latest plot in London would not have been foiled had it not been for Pakistan's help. This is an excellent new start; Pakistani officials openly take credit for helping smash the London plot at the risk of endangering themselves. While keeping the fundamentalists at bay, Musharraf should lose no time mapping out a strong economic development program aimed at producing results in short time, directing resources at fostering the base of the manufacturing industries and gearin it to exports.

U.S. aid so far has been overshadowed by military hardware. From now on it should increasingly emphasize development incentives, such as imports. People of Pakistan should be hooked on the fruits of development, not Islamic ideology. Shortly after he came to power through a coup, the late South Korean president Park Chung Hee hired a Pakistani economist to write his first five-year plan focused on increasing exports. Certainly Islamabad has no shortage of competent planners. Park dealt harshly with his political opposition and the media but he managed to "bribe" the rest of the country with the gains from development. Those who had a share of Park's development pie winked at his iron-fisted rule and stopped attending opposition rallies.

Pakistan's most urgent priority today is to promote economic development and provide jobs to keep malcontents away from extremist imams, not on more democratic rights.