MEMO-GATE

Pakistan Ambassador to U.S. Resigns

After allegedly seeking help to avoid military coup.

Husain Haqqani, Pakistan’s ambassador to the U.S., resigned amid a political scandal involving a secret memo to U.S. Adm. Mike Mullen. Following Osama bin Laden’s death in May, a Pakistani-American businessman wrote a memo to Admiral Mullen—per Haqqani’s instruction—insisting that President Asif Ali Zardari was planning to “replace Pakistan’s powerful military and intelligence leadership and cut ties with militants,” according to a Foreign Policy story. Following an op-ed by the businessman saying Zardari was trying to gain U.S. protection from his military, Mullen denied receiving such a memo but recently admitted its existence. Haqqani has denied the allegations, but said on Twitter that he’ll focus his energy on building a Pakistan free of “bigotry and intolerance.”