ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (AP) – Pervez Musharraf ended a tumultuous army career Wednesday that saw him go to the cusp of war with India and seize power in a coup, then find a lifeline in the calamity of 9/11 to turn Pakistan from a pariah state into a vital Muslim ally of the West.

Musharraf’s image has taken a beating since he declared a state of emergency on Nov. 3.

Pakistan’s revitalized opposition could yet wreck his plan to stay on as a civilian president.

Islamic militants entrenched along the Afghan border, where Osama bin Laden may be hiding, have defied his U.S.-urged efforts to dislodge them.

But Musharraf has succeeded before by braving the wrath of his country’s religious fundamentalists – swinging Pakistan firmly behind Washington after the Sept. 11 attacks and using Western patronage to revitalize the country’s economy and army.

“What Gen. Musharraf did after 9/11 was an act of extreme daring,” the liberal Daily Times newspaper said in an editorial Wednesday.

Musharraf owed his rise to the top of one of the world’s largest armies to Nawaz Sharif, the former prime minister now gunning hard for his removal from power. Sharif promoted Musharraf to the top military job in 1998, passing over a more senior general.

A senior commander told reporters this month that the army would try harder to avoid inflicting civilian casualties in Pakistan.

In his last speech in uniform on Tuesday, Musharraf said the army was now “stretched to the limit.”