By Arun Kumar

Washington, June 9 (IANS) Blaming "a strategic shift of US policy towards India" for an "acute deficit of trust" between them, former Pakistan president Pervez Musharraf has suggested open and frank talks to restore trust urgently.

"The abandonment of Pakistan after 1989, with a strategic shift of US policy towards India and military sanctions against Pakistan, cost US-Pakistan relations very dearly," he wrote in a piece for CNN suggesting in Pakistan's public mind the US "used" Pakistan and then "abandoned it."

The alleged "US nuclear policy of appeasement and strategic co-operation with India against Pakistan is taken by the man in the street in Pakistan as very partisan and an act of animosity against our national interest," Musharraf wrote.

Also blaming what he called the "malicious role of India and the Afghan government itself in maligning Pakistan's military and intelligence" Musharraf said: "We know what Indian consulates in Kandahar and Jalalabad especially are doing."

"We also know that Afghan intelligence, military and foreign service personnel go for training in India," he alleged asserting "Not a single one comes to Pakistan, despite Pakistan's longstanding offer of free training since my time in office."

Calling for a stop to what he dubbed as "the ulterior Indian motive of creating an anti-Pakistan Afghanistan", Musharraf said: "Only the United States can ensure such an essential change.

Harping on Kashmir, he said the "dispute needs an urgent, amicable settlement. That is the core towards stopping the religious militancy of the Kashmir-orientated mujahedeen."

On its part, Musharraf admitted that Pakistan needs to explain clearly why it is not acting against the Haqqani group (of Taliban) or when it will operate in North Waziristan.

Blaming incompetence for Pakistan's failure to find Osama bin Laden, he also suggested that Pakistani intelligence agencies should be purged of any elements who may not be committed to the official line of fighting Al Qaeda and the Taliban.