(NSI News Source Info) KOTTAKKAL, Kerala, India - October 2, 2011: Pakistan’s former President Pervez Musharraf has accused the United States of using Pakistan as a scapegoat for its failure in Afghanistan.
Musharraf dismissed as irresponsible the recent statements by former US Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Mike Mullen that Pakistan's spy agency was supporting the Taliban-affiliated Haqqani network.
Talking to Express television, Musharraf called on the US to stop the blame game adding that Pakistan and the US need to come onto the same page against a common enemy.
He said that the world needs to understand the stances of Pakistan, and unless the US stops violating Pakistani interests, there would be no more alliance. Musharraf also said that the US was responsible for controlling Haqqani activity on the Afghan side of the border.
Musharraf rejected the impression that he had allowed the US drone attacks on the tribal regions under a deal and said that only logistic support for unarmed drones had been extended. He went on to say that during his time in office there had been a total of nine drone strikes while these had exponentially increased during the term of the current government.
He pointed out that India was being accorded space in the Afghan peace process at the cost of Pakistan. 'Any result of a peace process in favor of India would not be acceptable to Pakistan and the US must understand this.'
Musharraf said that Pakistan must use all media sources (internal and external) to project Pakistan’s interests and reasoning in Afghanistan.
Musharraf also reminded the US that it was the Pakistan army which had conducted a successful operation in the Swat valley against the Tehrik-e-Taliban of Pakistan.
Musharraf said that Pakistan’s greatest desire is a stable and peaceful Afghanistan.
For this reason Pakistan was supporting the peace talks which were led by Burhanuddin Rabbani.
Pakistan must use “all media sources, internal and external” to project the country’s “interests and reasoning” in Afghanistan, the 68-year-old former president said in an appearance on a programme on Express 24/7 news channel.
Musharraf was of the opinion that Pakistan and Afghanistan need to talk to those Taliban factions that seek peace. Reuters
Pakistan and the US should be on “the same page” on Afghanistan as any political instability in the war-torn country could lead to a repeat of the events that occurred in the 1990s following the fall of the Soviet Union, he said.
“If we have an unstable Afghanistan on the border, if the people of Afghanistan cannot handle the situation themselves (and) the coalition and the US (forces) leave as they have decided in 2014 and they leave a mess in Afghanistan, then that possibility of history repeating itself is very much possible,” he said.
Referring to accusations by American officials that the Inter-Services Intelligence agency was waging a proxy war in Afghanistan, Musharraf claimed the US was using Pakistan as a scapegoat for its failures in the neighbouring country.
He described the allegations about the ISI supporting the Haqqani network as “irresponsible”. The responsibility for dealing with the Haqqanis should be “equally shared” by Pakistan and the US, he said.
Pakistani forces should use whatever influence they have and tell the Haqqanis not to cross the border. At the same time, US forces are responsible for controlling the Haqqanis on the Afghan side of the border, he added.
Musharraf said the blame game needs to stop so that Pakistan and the US could work against a common enemy. The world needs to understand Pakistan’s viewpoint and unless the US stops violating Pakistani interests, there could be no alliance between the two sides, he contended.
Doors for talks can never be closed, even with militant organisations, Musharraf said, noting that even the US has kept the door open for negotiations with the Haqqanis.
Musharraf claimed the way forward lay in talking to “peace-seeking Taliban”. He pointed out that while not all Pashtuns were Taliban, all Taliban were Pashtuns. “We need to identify the peace-seeking Taliban and hold reconciliatory talks with them,” he said.
Musharraf was of the opinion that Pakistan and Afghanistan need to talk to those Taliban factions that seek peace. However, this selective process had been dubbed by the US as a sort of double game, he claimed.
The former President rejected allegations that he had concluded a deal with the US administration during his regime to allow drone strikes in Pakistan. He said Pakistan had only provided logistical support for unarmed drones.
“If there was an agreement between me and the US…why has the new government not gone ahead and broken this agreement?” he asked.
'Pakistan will be the loser if there is no peace and stability in Afghanistan,' he said.
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