Afghan Debate Shows US Weak: Pervez Musharraf

WASHINGTON: Former President Pervez Musharraf said Monday that the US would make a “disastrous” mistake if it withdrew from Afghanistan and warned that a delay in sending more troops would be seen as a sign of weakness.

Musharraf also denied that Pakistan’s elite Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) was giving secret support to the Taliban, which the ISI helped build in the 1980s to confront the Soviet Union.

Asked by reporters and editors at The Washington Times whether the US and its allies might be seen as weak because of the prolonged debate over whether to send more forces to Afghanistan, Musharraf said, “Yes, absolutely. … By this vacillation and lack of commitment to a victory and talking too much about casualties [it] shows weakness in the resolve.”

Gen. Stanley McChrystal, who commands US-led forces in Afghanistan, submitted a request for more troops over the weekend to the Pentagon.

A US defence official told The Times that Gen. McChrystal presented several scenarios that could require as many as 40,000 troops. The official spoke on the condition that he not be named because he was discussing internal deliberations.

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Afghan Debate Shows US Weak: Pervez Musharraf was first posted on September 29, 2009 at 8:29 pm.
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