The third arm, the all powerful ISI, is also controlled by another loyalist, Lt Gen Nadeem Taj. He was military secretary when Musharraf took over Pakistan as ‘chief executive’ on October 12, 1999, and knows the inner workings of the Pakistani power structure. That Kayani and Majid are also favourites in Washington could be more than coincidence. While Kayani has attended the Command and General Staff College, Fort Leavenworth, Majid is a graduate of Asia Pacific College of Security Studies, Hawaii. Incidentally both generals were commissioned in the Baloch Regiment in 1971, the year when Pakistan suffered a defeat against India in the east. They almost certainly carry this historic baggage. As the head of an army with 250 soldiers captured by militants in South Waziristan and facing a direct challenge from the Al-Qaeda, Kayani takes over at a critical time. Juggling the political with the military has always been difficult for the COAS. More often than not they have taken the easier option of combining both offices in one. Kayani will not have this option. In Musharraf, he will have a wily president who will like to control rather than be controlled.