The newspaper claimed that three senior US officials – Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Mike Mullen and special envoy Richard Holbrooke – to played key supporting roles in encouraging the army to do so.

According to the Post, when President Asif Ali Zardari asked Army chief Gen. Ashfaq Kayani to stop the march and protect Islamabad, he ‘faced the moment of decision (and) refused, after discussing the dilemma with his friend Admiral Mullen.’

Gen. Kayani also called former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and told him to return home to Lahore when the opposition leader was in Gujranwala.

Gen. Kayani spoke to the leader of the lawyers’ movement, Aitzaz Ahsan, as well and told him to halt in Gujranwala and wait for a government announcement.

The writer, David Ignatius, an associate editor and columnist for the Post, visited Islamabad last week with Ambassador Holbrooke and Admiral Mullen and met President Zardari and other senior officials. Mr Ignatius based his report on information he received directly from Pakistani and US officials.

The officials told Mr Ignatius that Pressure on Zardari was also building within his People's Party. According to a US official, Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani told the president on the night of March 15 that he would resign if Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry wasn't reinstated.

Secretary Clinton and Ambassador Holbrooke made several telephone calls to President Zardari and Mr Sharif. The American officials signalled to Mr Sharif that they wouldn't object to his becoming president or prime minister some day.

Another key intermediary was David Miliband, the British foreign secretary, who urged dialogue with Mr Sharif. 

When Ambassador Holbrooke and Admiral Mullen visited Islamabad last week, they ‘reinforced the deal.’ ‘They saw the key players and came away hoping that the three could form a united front against the Taliban insurgency in the Western frontier areas, rather than continue their political squabbling,’ the report said.

In an interview to Mr Ignatius, Husain Haqqani, Pakistan's ambassador to Washington, praised Mr Holbrooke's diplomacy. ‘He brings hope that complex problems will be resolved.’

Mr Ignatius observed: ‘On the political scorecard, President Zardari came out a loser and Mr Sharif and Mr Gilani as winners. But the decisive actor was Gen. Kayani, who managed to defuse the crisis without bringing the army into the streets.’
 
The Foreign Policy magazine, while commenting on the Post’s report, noted: ‘On the one hand, Gen. Kayani appears to have handled the crisis with wisdom and aplomb. On the other, the incident makes it clear once and for all just who the real power broker in Pakistan really is.’

The report pointed out that if Pakistan ‘continues to deteriorate, it's not too hard to imagine a scenario in which Gen. Kayani pulls a Gen. Musharraf and seizes formal power —but not before calling ‘his friend Mullen’ to explain how he has the situation under control and will be working to restore democracy as soon as possible.’

The prestigious US publication predicted that if this happened, ‘many in Washington would probably welcome this development.’

Another prestigious US magazine, The New Republic, noted that Gen. Kayani was ‘the hidden glue holding together Pakistan's political system last month.’

The magazine pointed out that Gen. Kayani trained at the US General Staff College at Ft. Leavenworth and he recently led the Inter-Services Intelligence agency.

‘It appears that Joint Chiefs chairman Mike Mullen like and trusts Gen. Kayani, whom he calls ‘a courageous leader’ and ‘the right guy at the right time’,’ The New Republic noted.

In the original story, Mr Ignatius described the March crisis as ‘a story of political brinksmanship and, ultimately, of a settlement brokered by the Obama administration.’

He said that for Washington, ‘at stake was the survival of Pakistani democracy.’ Mr Ignatius said that the crisis started when the allies of President Zardari attempted to cripple his political rival, Mr Sharif.

The opposition leader took to the streets in response, joining a ‘long march’ to Islamabad to demand reinstatement of Pakistan's deposed chief justice.

‘The march threatened a violent street battle that could have forced General Kayani, to intervene,’ he noted.

‘The confrontation demonstrated the fragility of Pakistani politics. But it also showed that after some initial mistakes, the three key players - Zardari, Sharif and Kayani - were able to defuse the crisis. The lesson for nervous Pakistan-watchers is that however enfeebled the country's elite may be, it isn't suicidal.’

Shuja Nawaz, the author of ‘Crossed Swords,’ a study of the Pakistani military, told the Post: ‘I think Pakistan's politicians are growing up. They are realising that you have to meet the people's needs or you get kicked out.’