London, Sep 29 (IANS): Former president Pervez Musharraf has indicated that Pakistan's interests are helped by the support of the Haqqani network, blamed for multiple attacks in neighbouring Afghanistan.
In an interview with the Daily Telegraph in central London, Musharraf said it was important for Pakistan to spell out to the world why the Haqqani network was being allowed to operate on its soil.
On Sep 22, Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, accused Pakistan's intelligence services of aiding the Haqqanis during an attack on the American embassy in Kabul.
Asked if Pakistan needed the support of the powerful insurgent family led by Jalaluddin Haqqani and linked to the Taliban, he said: "If I was in government I would certainly be thinking how best to defend Pakistan's interests.
"Certainly if Afghanistan is being used by India to create an anti-Pakistan Afghanistan, we would like to prevent that."
He said the Haqqani group was the source of a "terrible" lack of trust and confidence.
"When the coalition talk of leaving in 2014, Pakistan has to really think, what will be the environment and fend for itself against all the exterior pressures, all the exterior manoeuverings and political manoeuverings against Pakistan," he added.
Dismissing suggestions that the Pakistani military colluded in hiding Al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden, Musharraf said the incident was "most embarrassing and negligence of a shameful order".
He admitted that presently the relationship between the US and Pakistan was "very poor".
Musharraf said the distrust was increased by drone attacks, the killing of Osama bin Laden and tensions over Raymond Davis, the CIA agent who shot dead two alleged robbers in Lahore earlier this year.
Asked if he thought the Taliban would end up ruling Afghanistan again when Britain and the US pull out in three years' time, he offered two possible scenarios, one in which there was "total mayhem" and a "free for all" with "every ethnic group fighting each other".
On the other hand, if the Taliban managed to unite under one leader, civil war could ensue, he added.
He also said Mullar Omar, the leader of the Taliban, was beyond Pakistani control and described him as "absolutely obstinate and semi-literate and not aware of issues of the world, with very backward, sectarian views".