One of the key Pakistani leaders of Malala’s lifetime, General Pervez Musharraf is a brutal, untrustworthy, but undeniably talented politician. A military leader by training, he maintains control of the country for eleven years, always claiming that he plans to step down soon. Musharraf cleverly aligns himself with the United States by promising to use their foreign aid to fight the forces of terrorism and extremism in his country. For more than half a decade, Musharraf “hedges his bets,” promising both religious extremists and American politicians that he’s on their side. (In reality, Malala maintains, he’s on no one’s side but his own: most of America’s foreign aid goes to building elaborate mansions and villas for his pleasure.) Plainly, Malala dislikes Musharraf for raising his own interests above those of his state, and for denying his full support to advocates of free education and women’s rights. At one point, Malala loosely implies that he’s responsible for the death of Benazir Bhutto.