Summary Musharraf sees the Ashraf Ghani as a more reliable partner than former Afghan President Hamid Karzai
KARACHI (Web Desk) - Former President Pervez Musharraf said Kabul must share power with the Afghan Taliban and block Indian influence if it wishes to see peace, the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday.
In an interview with the WSJ, the former president stated 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.”
Musharraf also acknowledged 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,” he said. “Certainly if there’s an enemy of mine, I will use somebody to counter him.”
Musharraf, like the current Pakistani government, sees the Ashraf Ghani as a more reliable partner than former Afghan President Hamid Karzai.
