LONDON: Leaked US diplomatic cables reveal that British officials initially considered Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari a ”numbskull” who would not last long in office.
Wikileaks cables from 2008 released this Saturday reveal that British government officials offered a pessimistic assessment of Pakistan’s prospects as it battled financial turmoil and Taliban and al-Qaida violence.
In a cable the same month, a diplomat at the US Embassy in London said the British government ”makes no attempt to hide from us its disdain for Zardari.”
The memo says British officials saw Zardari as ”highly corrupt and lacking popular support, simply having benefited from his wife’s unfortunate demise.” They predicted he would be out of office within a year.
In a meeting the next month recounted in a separate cable, the then-head of the British military, Air Chief Marshall Jock Stirrup, told US officials that although Zardari has ”made helpful political noises, he’s clearly a numbskull.”
But the next month a Foreign Office official, Laura Hickey, was quoted as saying Zardari had done ”surprisingly well” and the UK had underestimated him.
