September 12, 2006 ☼ Foreign Affairs
This is an archived blog post from The Acorn.
Speaking to the EU parliament’s foreign affairs committee, Gen Musharraf blamed the West for turning Pakistan into the centre of the jihadi universe.
Whatever extremism or terrorism is in Pakistan is a direct fallout of the 26 years of warfare and militancy around us. It gets back to 1979 when the West, the United States and Pakistan waged a war against the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan,†Musharraf told EU lawmakers.
“We launched a jihad, brought in mujahideen from all over the Muslim world, the US and the West…We armed the Taliban and sent them in; we did it together. In 1989 everyone left Pakistan with 30,000 armed mujahideen who were there, and the Taliban who were there,†he said, adding that Pakistan had “paid a big price for being part of the coalition that fought the Soviet Union.†[DT]This narrative should play well to European ears—where there are plenty of takers for the “it’s all America’s fault” line.
If you would like to share or comment on this, please discuss it on my GitHub
Previous © Copyright 2003-2024. Nitin Pai. All Rights Reserved.