In an echo of the warm words that President George W. Bush so often used of Pervez Musharraf, Washington saluted the outgoing president on Monday as “one of the world’s most committed partners in the war against terrorism and extremism”.

During the closest years of their relationship, between 2001 and last year, Mr Bush rarely let an opportunity go without lauding Mr Musharraf for his tough stand on “radicals” and “extremists”.