When Bhutto's government was dismissed by President Ghulam Ishaq Khan in 1990, Zardari was widely criticized for involvement in corruption scandals that led to its collapse.

[10][6] As president, Zardari remained a strong American ally in the war in Afghanistan, despite prevalent public disapproval of the United States following the Raymond Davis incident and the NATO attack in Salala in 2011.

His attempt to prevent the reinstatement of Supreme Court judges failed in the face of massive protests led by his political rival Nawaz Sharif.

[19][20] His paternal grandmother was of Iraqi descent,[21] while his mother was the granddaughter of Hassan Ali Effendi, a Sindhi educationist who is known as the founder of the Sindh Madressatul Islam.

[37] Jatoi accused Zardari of using his wife's political position to charge a ten percent commission for obtaining permission to set up any project or to receive loans.

[41] In February 1994, Benazir sent Zardari to meet with Saddam Hussein in Iraq to deliver medicine in exchange for three detained Pakistanis arrested on the ambiguous Kuwait-Iraq border.

[54] The report discussed $200 million in kickbacks to Zardari and a Pakistani partner for a $4 billion contract with French military contractor Dassault Aviation, in a deal that fell apart only when the Bhutto government was dismissed.

[54] It had information from Pakistani investigators that the Bhutto family had allegedly accrued more than $1.5 billion in illicit profits through kickbacks in virtually every sphere of government activity.

[55] In April 1999, Bhutto and Zardari were convicted for receiving indemnities from a Swiss goods inspection company that was hired to end corruption in the collection of customs duties.

[66] This left open the possibility of investigations into his alleged involvement in about $2 million in illegal kickbacks to Saddam Hussein, discovered in October 2005, under the oil-for-food program.

[66] If the ordinance was rescinded, he would have had to deal with charges relating to evading duties on an armoured BMW, commissions from a Polish tractor manufacturer, and a kickback from a gold bullion dealer.

[c][136][137] At the inauguration on 9 September 2008, Afghan President Hamid Karzai was a guest of honour, which was a signal for much closer cooperation between the two nations in addressing the tribal insurgency along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border.

[127] His economic competence was questioned after allegations that he had raised grain procurement prices through inflationary subsidies and scrapped the capital gains tax.

[148][149][150][151] Although, at the United Nations General Assembly, he publicly condemned U.S drone attacks in Pakistan,[152] The Washington Post reported that he had signed a "secret deal" when he met with senior American officials that arranged for the coordination of Predator strikes and a jointly approved list of prominent targets.

[158] China refused to offer any aid commitments, but instead promised to provide assistance in the development of two nuclear power plants and more future business investments.

[169][170] Zardari's ruling coalition averted a government collapse by accepting the opposition's economic proposals, which restored gas subsidies and abandoned many of the IMF's suggested reforms.

[172][173][174] In early October 2008, he received fierce domestic criticism for repeatedly calling Kashmiri nationalists (see Kashmir conflict) in India "terrorists".

[183][184]The government has had a longstanding conflict in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), Pakistani regions bordering Afghanistan.

[193] At Brussels in mid-June, Zardari unsuccessfully sought trade concessions from the European Union; it instead pledged $90 million development aid to curtail tribal influence by insurgents.

[194][195][196] After the U.S. Congress passed Obama's civilian aid package in October,[197][198] army generals in the Pakistani military establishment widened the growing rift with Zardari's government and openly criticised U.S.

[210][211][212] Zardari dismissed the Punjab provincial government[213] and only partially reinstated the judiciary by restoring 56 other judges deposed by Musharraf—but not their former leader, Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry.

[224] In late November 2009, Zardari ceded to Prime Minister Gillani the chairmanship of the National Command Authority, Pakistan's nuclear arsenal oversight agency.

[225][226] In December 2009, the Supreme Court ruled that the National Reconciliation Ordinance amnesty was unconstitutional, which cleared the way for the revival of corruption cases against Zardari.

[241] In April 2010, after months of political pressure, the government passed the 18th Amendment, which reduced the President to a ceremonial figurehead by stripping the office of the power to dissolve Parliament, to dismiss the Prime Minister, and to appoint military chiefs.

[247] In early January 2011, Zardari signed the 19th Amendment, which lessened the likelihood of future clashes between the President and the judiciary by strengthening the power of the Chief Justice in deciding judicial appointments.

[250] In November 2012, the Pakistan government in response to the court orders, finally wrote to the Swiss authorities seeking to reopen the corruption cases against Zardari.

[261][262][263] As the flood's devastation became increasingly evident, he was widely criticised for flying in a helicopter to his Normandy chateau[264][265][266] and dining at Cameron's Chequers countryside home.

[284] Pakistan and China on 22 May 2013 signed several agreements and memoranda of understanding (MoUs) that mainly included the long-term China–Pakistan Economic Corridor plan, maritime cooperation and satellite navigation.

[293] In August 2017, Pakistan's anti-corruption court acquitted him from his last pending case in which he was accused along with his late wife, Benazir Bhutto, of laundering illegal kickbacks and maintaining assets beyond known sources of income.

He has visited Prof. Ahmad Rafique Akhtar, a well-known Sufi scholar based in Gujar Khan who often counsels government officials and military leaders.