Asif Ali Zardari, the President of Pakistan or the governor of the state of Pakistan? Take your pick.

He is keen to play ball. He will do as told. He will sing. He will dance. He will play 'go-fetch'. He wanted to be the President of Pakistan pretty bad. Certainly, he couldn't be elected like Obama -- through popular vote. Having said that, Mr. Zardari must have been very happy to be chosen by the US for the top job in Pakistan. Of course he was first cultivated by Langley and briefed over and over again about what is expected of him when he replaces Musharaf. Once CIA was convinced that they got their bogeyman, his handlers, presented him to the State Department's Assistant Secretary Richard A. Boucher who heads the Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs, which deals with U.S. foreign policy and U.S. relations with both India and Pakistan. Of course, he had to get his boss, the secretary of state, to OK it. His selection was finally signed off by by President George Bush himself, though reluctantly since he considered Musharaf his friend in the fight against terror.

Asif Ali Zardari's dreams came true. Benazir was conveniently killed in a poltical rally. Another stroke of luck; she left very clear instructions on leadership and governance in her party. The rest is history. He became the 12th and current President of Pakistan. Or, you can say that, the governor of the fifty first (51st) state of Pakistan. The last two states to join the Union were Alaska (49th) and Hawaii (50th). Both joined in 1959. Pakistan under Zardari hopefully applied for joining the Union in 2008. Approval is pending however.

US knows very well that Pakistan government is not involved in Mumbai attacks. Asif Zardari cannot even pee without first checking with the country officer at the Embassy in Islamabad. However, it is time for US to grant India another big concession; handing over of the fugitives that India has long demand. ISI has told Asif Zardari categorically, that you do that and our entire counter-intellegence apparatus in India will disappear in no time.

Next, India doesn't want to have all those nukes aimed at it and a country still very much run behind the scene by by a bunch of loose religous zealites. It wants and so does Isreal to take out Pakistan's nuclear defence -- of course, in the name of world peace.

Again, Asif Zardari has no choice anymore. His honeymoon days are over. He has promised long and delivered short. He has been everyone's fiasco, including that of his own party. He lives in a world of his own; all secured and set for a life of luxury. He may sing and dance as much as he likes in the media, for domestic consumption, but at the end of the day, he will do exactly as he has been told. Yes, he has to stand up and deliver. This is not the end but just the beginning of the end. Pakistan's geographic boundries are taking a beating. But he couldn't care less. He is well rooted in Dubai, London, New York and Caymen Islands of course.

There's news for you. The handlers are working on his successor. That is how the game is played out; when Musharaf was the President, Zardari was the President-in-waiting. Who next? If I am not wrong, it will be a long night of the generals all over again. May be not. Interestingly, Richard A. Boucher, who Asif Zardari reports to at the State Dept, called on MQM chief Altaf Hussain at the party’s international secretariat in London on Friday, November 5. Watch this space.