India, Feb. 13 -- The United States led the pack as the international community moved swiftly to recognise a new political reality in Bangladesh on Friday. Its congratulatory note for Tarique Rahman, however, marked a whiplash-inducing reversal from the way Washington once defined the man poised to be Bangladesh's next prime minister.

Rahman was a "symbol of kleptocratic government and violent politics", as per US diplomatic cables two decades ago. The most damning adjectives for Rahman by US diplomats came during the late 2000s.

In that period when his mother Khaleda Zia served her second term as PM, Tarique Rahman, also called Tarique Zia, was seen by US diplomats as the architect of a "parallel administration" operating out of Hawa B...