General and Chief of Army Staff Pervez Musharraf became president of Pakistan
in 1999, following a bloodless coup. He and his country became integral in the U.S. war on terror after the 9/11 attacks. Pakistan helped capture hundreds of al-Qaeda operatives and continues to be allied with the United States against extremists.
Musharraf, facing impeachment pressure, resigned as president in August 2008. He has survived several assassination attempts and isn't ruling out running for president again. He wrote his memoir, "In the Line of Fire," while still in office, and spoke recently to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
Q. What do you think of Vice President Joe Biden's proposed plan to draw down the troop levels in Afghanistan and target al-Qaeda hot spots in Pakistan?
A. I don't think that's a good strategy at all. If they reduce [the] force then the operational strategy will have to be rethought, remolded to fit the reduced troops. Now, if the idea is you leave the Taliban and you only attack al-Qaeda, I don't think that is a wise strategy. It is the Taliban who are now very strong. It is the Taliban who are fighting. It is the Taliban force of Mullah Omar. Fifty percent of Afghans, who are Pashtuns, are supporters of Taliban, and they are the ones who ruled Afghanistan for six years. Then they have support on the Pakistan side. It is the Taliban that has emerged as the main power. I would like to know what his overall strategy is.
Q. What are your thoughts on Iran having a nuclear bomb? Didn't Pakistan experience opposition when trying to get the bomb, after India had nuclear capability.
A. Pakistan developing it was very different. We have an external threat on us from our eastern border from India. Therefore, we have always a defensive deterrent strategy. We have always conventionally maintained forces, which were capable of deterring aggression by India. But then they went nuclear and developed missiles, so that deterrent strategy of ours became untenable. That is when we decided we must restore that imbalance that had been created. We also went nuclear. We had a compulsion. We had a threat to our existence. Iran doesn't have that. Pakistan is against proliferation. Their situation is not that they are threatened by anyone. But they have a right to develop nuclear energy for peaceful purposes.
Q. Tribal leaders, are they the key to turning the tide in Afghanistan and along the remote borders of Pakistan?
A. Yes, tribal leaders who have influence should be won over. Pashtun tribal leaders have to be won over because they are 50 percent of Afghanistan, and they have been alienated after 9/11. We should have moved toward the Pashtuns after winning against the Taliban with the Northern Alliance. They were not all Taliban, and we should have got the Pashtuns on our side, but we didn't do that. So, in effect, we have actually pushed the Pashtuns toward the Taliban. That has been a wrong strategy. We need to look at who are the Pashtuns who wield influence, and we should get them to our side for a political resolution of the dispute.
Q. Was Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai fairly elected and what kind of job is he doing?
A. He's not doing a good job. I am only reading from the papers that there has been rigging, although in a place like Afghanistan to expect an absolutely fair election like you would have here in the United States is asking for too much. Karzai is not a popular man at all. I do not know if he has been elected correctly or not, but he is not popular with the people and over the last eight years he hasn't done much.
Q. The government of Pakistan says it is using a plan of development, deterrence and dialogue to combat the Taliban and terrorists. How is that different from when you were in office?
A. It's not different. I have always been saying we have to have a three-track approach, of military, political and social and economic, and then we have to get the root causes of extremism and terrorism, which really in Pakistan is poverty and illiteracy.
Q. What is the biggest misconception Americans have of Pakistan?
A. That we are all radicals and fundamentalists roaming around the country, bearded people, extremists. The vast majority is moderate. There is a perception maybe that the education level is very low, and we are all Madrasah-educated people. It's very wrong. Madrasahs only account for maybe 3 or 4 percent of the students of Pakistan. The rest are educated in government schools, which are progressive, and private schools, which are very progressive. There are lots of missionary institutions. I have studied in St. Patrick School, which is a Catholic missionary school, and Forman Christian College, which is a Protestant college.
E-mail Patricia Sheridan of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette at psheridan(at)post-gazette.com.
(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, http://www.scrippsnews.com)
Post new comment