Former President Pervez Musharraf, whose administration once backed the Taliban in Afghanistan, said Kabul must share power with the extremist group and block Indian influence if it wishes to see peace. The former military ruler told The Wall Street Journal in an interview that Afghan President Ashraf Ghani's September inauguration presents a new opportunity for reconciliation between Kabul and the Taliban and related insurgent groups.
"Ashraf Ghani is a balanced man," he said. "I think he's a great hope. And Pakistan and India both must stay away, and not to have this kind of a proxy war going on there." Given his close links to defence and intelligence officials, Musharraf's remarks offer a window into official Pakistani thinking on the peace process, a policy that is often obscured by careful diplomatic language. Musharraf also acknowledged-rare for a top Pakistani official, even a former one-that India and Pakistan had been engaged in a long-running proxy war on Afghan soil that fed the conflict. But he said his and Islamabad's role in nurturing the Taliban and allied militant groups operating in Afghanistan were a legitimate counterweight against its rival India there.
"There are enemies of Pakistan that have to be countered," Musharraf said. "Certainly if there's an enemy of mine, I will use somebody to counter him." Syed Akbaruddin, spokesman for India's Ministry of External Affairs, said: "We don't need to respond to voices from the wilderness. Such voices just try to occupy news space. Pakistan's foreign ministry declined to comment on statements it hadn't yet seen. Musharraf said India had provided weapons, training and equipment to ethnic Baluch separatists inside Afghanistan. Pakistan's western Baluchistan province, which shares a border with southern Afghanistan, has seen a long-running armed separatist movement. Musharraf said the US and its allies had consistently failed to consider Pakistan's concerns, forcing Islamabad to rely on other militant groups inside Afghanistan to prop up its interests. The Haqqanis, Musharraf said, were "the best fighters of the '80s...They were our champions of the uprising against the Soviet Union."
The US government, however, blames the Haqqanis for a number of high-profile terror incidents, including a September 2011 attack on the US Embassy in Kabul. Musharraf acknowledges that the military, including the current army chief, have supported him behind the scenes. "These people know me-they won't forget," said the career military man. "I can't imagine this army will not be with me. Always."
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