Spencer Ackerman June 18, 2007, 10:07 AM

Last week, TPMmuckraker reported that some U.S. intelligence analysts think it’s curtains for Pakistan’s embattled General Pervez Musharraf. Musharraf has been the linchpin of U.S. policy in Pakistan ever since 9/11, but he now faces growing and multifaceted opposition — everyone from Islamists to democrats — after he sacked the country’s chief Supreme Court justice in March. But while Musharraf is running out of friends in Islamabad, he’s still got many in Washington.

Over the weekend, Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte, Central Command’s Admiral William Fallon and Assistant Secretary of State Richard Boucher reaffirmed the Bush administration’s support for the Pakistani strongman. Negroponte took the lead, telling Pakistani TV that “there’s no equal” to Musharraf in terms of fighting terrorism around the world and implying that the U.S. would back Musharraf if he decides not to step down as Army chief of staff before the next round of elections, as Pakistan’s constitution demands. One of Musharraf’s leading critics, the cricket star turned Islamist demagogue Imran Khan, seized on Negroponte’s comment as evidence that Musharraf has turned the country into a U.S. “colony.”

Furthermore, there’s speculation that the U.S. is encouraging Musharraf to enter into a modus vivendi with his hated rival, ex-premier Benazir Bhutto, who badly wants to end her exile. The thinking goes that Musharraf can hold onto power — and the U.S. can hold onto a reliable ally — if he concedes Bhutto’s return to political prominence. And as if by astonishing coincidence, Bhutto claimed over the weekend that such a deal is in the works:

Mrs Bhutto, who has served as prime minister twice, between 1988 and 1990 and 1993 and 1996, acknowledged that the (Pakistan People’s Party) had been discussing a possible deal with Gen Musharraf that would enable him to continue as president, provided he agreed to quit as army chief.

“We’ve had discussions but they have not moved forward,” she said. “We’ve left all options open. We may abstain or we may resign. To say that we’ve decided not to vote against him would be wrong.”

It remains to be seen whether the Pakistani movement that’s putting the heat on Musharraf will accept the return of the country’s old, disgraced leaders — Bhutto and her successor Nawaz Sharif, whom Musharraf overthrew — particularly if Pakistanis see the hand of the U.S. in engineering their reemergence.