US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has reacted by saying that while emergency proclamation is “highly regrettable” she hoped he would still move towards quick elections. Like it or not, the US administration cannot disclaim ownership of Musharraf’s actions. Post 9/11, its foreign policy has been supposedly oriented to bringing in democracy and fighting terrorism in the Muslim world. Musharraf, with a clearly half-hearted fight against the Al-Qaeda/Taliban and with a democratic process tilted in favour of political actors of his choice, has already received $10 billion in mostly military aid. America’s burden is not just that its favourite despot could be in trouble domestically. It is also that America has sheltered him and emboldened him to curtail civil rights and undermine democratic institutions. This is as much a crisis for the United States as it is for South Asia.