 Pakistan is not a banana state and the allegations that a Pakistani intelligence agency is helping the Taliban and other militants are baseless, President General Pervez Musharraf said in an interview with a German magazine, Focus, here on Saturday. “Pakistan is not a banana republic. Our army is well organised and loyal.
"Army personnel constitute the major chunk of the intelligence agency. Intelligence personnel have been changed from two to three times since 1990,” he said.
| Merely changing the faces doesn't say that the policies have been changed. |
To a question, President Musharraf said that Pakistani Pushtoons may be supporting the Taliban and other militants in Afghanistan, but such allegations against Pakistani intelligence were baseless and incorrect.
| "Controlling them" isn't the same as "supporting them." It's a subtle difference, but it's there, I suppose. |
He said that the strategy in Afghanistan should be reviewed. He said that the Taliban could generate a new movement if Pushtoons were not stopped from helping them.
| ... which isn't gonna happen on the Pak side of the border. |
The president said that the Afghanistan issue should be resolved politically. He said that the war against the Taliban could be won by recruiting them into the Afghan army.
| ... which would then make the Afghan army the Taliban and vice versa. |
He said that infiltration of Taliban and Al Qaeda members could be stopped by laying landmines on the Pakistan-Afghanistan border. |