PAKISTAN'S PREMIER: A Confident Leader or a Chaotic Land

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The Problems. In his ten months in office, he has juggled tricky Pakistani politics expertly, but has had little time to tackle Pakistan's monumental problems. Divided into two pieces—East and West Pakistan—by 1,000 miles of hostile India, the nation is bedeviled by bad planning, corrupt bureaucracy, absentee landlordism, heavy defense spending (to keep up with the Indians). U.S. military and economic aid already amounts to a fat 40% of Pakistan's budget, which keeps 192,000 tough Moslem troops in the anti-Communist as well as anti-India line. Seasoned Western diplomats often wonder whether anyone can bring order out of Pakistan, even call Suhrawardy "Pakistan's last chance."

The U.S. Tour. Suhrawardy is in the U.S. to 1) get even stronger U.S. support for Pakistan's anti-India stand on Kashmir; 2) seek out more U.S. aid, particularly in the form of U.S. farm surpluses; 3) pick up some personal prestige that will help him tackle the overwhelming problems back home and face the nation's first general election next year.

The Eisenhower-Suhrawardy communique promised Pakistan that "minimum requirements" on U.S. farm-surplus shipments would get "sympathetic and expeditious consideration," hopes for a peaceful U.N.-backed settlement of Kashmir. Said Suhrawardy cryptically: "Some things are not referred to in the communique."