Pakistan's Musharraf pushed to end emergency rule

The U.S. Deputy Secretary of State has urged Pakistani President, General Pervez Musharraf to end emergency rule. John Negroponte who met Musharraf on Saturday also told the Pakistani President that he must free his opponents ahead of the elections in ear

Musharraf, who is the U.S.'s key ally in the war on terror, insists he will not lift the state of emergency unless the security situation in his country improves.

Russia Today's military expert Evgeny Khruschev explained how the situation in Pakistan has affected US relations with General Musharraf.

“It was widely expected that the U.S. Deputy Secretary of State would deliver a message. There were some vague hopes that he would really come up with the diplomatic guns blazing, but for the time being it looks like he is a messenger from the White House. Now the relations between the countries are in a strange stage. On the one hand, John Negroponte praises General Musharraf as the U.S. 'indispensable ally' in the war on terror. But at the same time, Negroponte appeals to General Musharraf to abide by the trappings of democracy. So the U.S. has to choose what's more important – the war on terror or promoting democracy,” Mr Khruschev said.