Gen Musharraf’s two pence

The old, Taliban days

General Musharraf’s recent admission, that recognising Afghanistan’s Taliban regime was a mistake, must have left many an old khaki with a realisation of how times change. Even six months into Zarb e Azb, there are doubts about Pakistan’s claim of moving beyond the good-Taliban, bad-Taliban approach. Gen Sharif was met well in Washington, which means Pakistan’s official claim about the Haqqanis, Afghan Taliban, etc, is being accepted at face value, at least for the time being. But a former army chief criticising the old Taliban equation is definitely breaking news from Pakistan’s point of view.

The truth is that the Taliban policy was put in place while Musharraf was quite a long way from the decision-making process. Gen Babar led the caravan during BB’s administration. And in Nawaz Sharif’s time, Gohar Ayub did the rounds trying to rally support for our friends in Kabul. Musharraf, of course, kept the same policy, at least until 9/11, after which different narratives have been accepted in different parts of the world. Pakistan kept stressing its U-turn, and the Americans kept doubting, and asked to “do more”. However if Gen Musharraf sincerely believes now that recognising the Taliban was wrong, he did nothing to show such tendency during his time in power, not until the war on terror at least.

He was right, though, in saying that al Qaeda came into being largely because of American neglect of Afghanistan following the Russian withdrawal. Pakistan was, indeed, left exposed on two fronts, and our American friends had long since retreated across the Atlantic to celebrate their victory over communism. That is why the Afghan endgame is more important this time round. Washington now understands what a sudden cut-off can spin-off into. And Pakistan knows well what blowback proxies can bring. The policy of pursuing terrorists, of all hues and colours, till they are completely routed must be followed in letter and spirit. This Afghan war must end what the last Afghan war started. Otherwise there will be more bitter lessons and more candid admissions, like Gen Musharraf’s views about the Taliban.