An early 'ally' in the War on Terror
points a historical finger at the US for the current situation in Pakistan:
In a speech to the European Parliament's foreign affairs committee on Tuesday, Pakistan's President General Pervez Musharraf blamed the United States and the West for "breeding terrorism in his country by bringing in thousands of mujahideen to fight the Soviet Union in Afghanistan and then leaving Pakistan alone a decade later to face the armed warriors," according to an article at Pakistan's Daily Times published on Wednesday.
In his address to the EU's
Foreign Affairs Committee, General Musharraf defended his country against the West's image of Pakistan as a region of dangerous extremism:
Mr Musharraf stressed that his country "is not an extremist, intolerant society as perceived in the west" and that the vast majority of the Pakistani people are moderate and progressive people, who want peace. He warned that the Taliban were now a more dangerous threat to security than Al-Qaida, as the Taliban have their roots in the population, which Al-Qaida never had. Mr Musharraf said that his country had fought hard against Al-Qaida and had dislodged its terrorists from Pakistan's cities and valleys. What the Pakistan government was now trying to do was to tie in the Pakhtuns in the North Western Frontier Province by providing administrative and military support, while undertaking a massive reconstruction effort.
Musharraf invoked the aftermath of the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan as an explanation for its current dilemma:
"Whatever extremism or terrorism is in Pakistan is a direct fallout of the 26 years of warfare and militancy around us. It gets back to 1979 when the West, the United States and Pakistan waged a war against the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan," Musharraf told EU lawmakers.
"We launched a jihad, brought in mujahideen from all over the Muslim world, the US and the West...We armed the Taliban and sent them in; we did it together. In 1989 everyone left Pakistan with 30,000 armed mujahideen who were there, and the Taliban who were there," he said, adding that Pakistan had "paid a big price for being part of the coalition that fought the Soviet Union."
Meanwhile, requests for deployment of an additional 2'500 Nato troops to Afghanistan have so far gone unanswered:
No formal offers have been made by Nato states in response to requests by commanders in Afghanistan for 2,500 extra troops, Nato says.
Members are meeting in Belgium amid pressure from the International Security Assistance Force, which is fighting in southern Afghanistan.
Differing rules of engagement between Nato states are creating difficulties.
However, a Nato spokesman said there were "positive indications" some might consider sending forces in the future.
On the bright side however, at least one Administration neo-con appears to have absorbed a belated lesson from the annals of 1980's US foreign policy:
On Tuesday US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Afghanistan's strategic position meant it risked becoming a haven for militant groups.
Referring to a US decision to leave the country after the withdrawal of the Soviet Union in 1989, Ms Rice said, "We all came to pay for that."
Speaking in Canada, she explained that the US should learn its lessons from Afghanistan.
"If you allow that kind of vacuum, if you allow a failed state in that strategic location, you're going to pay for it," she said.
Really? I wonder if Ms. Rice thinks that could happen in, say, Iraq?