Pervez Musharraf
from: themoderatevoice.com
WASHINGTON: Pointing out that it was "critical" to defeat Taliban, former Pakistan president Pervez Musharraf has sharply criticised US plans to begin troops pull-out from Afghanistan in a year's time."We are there because we understand how critical it is to the region and to the world," Musharraf, now on a lecture tour of US, told a gathering at the Portland University in Oregon last night.
While praising US president Barack Obama for sending 30,000 more troops to Afghanistan, Musharraf said efforts should be to win the war against terror fully.
Opposing Obama's plan to begin withdrawing forces in July 2011, the former Pakistan ruler said the fight should go on until the Taliban is defeated.
He said Obama was too worried about public opinion. "Sometimes in the lives of leaders, you must do the unpopular as the real test of leadership lies there."
The former Pakistan Army chief said the recent wave of arrests of top Taliban commanders were a "positive sign", but did not mark a major blow to Taliban forces.
He said Taliban was not a monolith force as some people think and a person who is the second most important man of the group has not great impact on Taliban.
In the address, Musharraf claimed he would return to Pakistan if the people wanted him back and thought he could help the country.
Comment: That timeframe will be prime election campaign time for Obama, Mr Musharraf. Although you may be right about leaders sometimes having to make unpopular decisions, it would be political suicide for Obama to back down on troop withdrawals next year. The Taliban need to be defeated with internal forces, the external ones cannot stay there indefinitely. A deadline is required but most realize a deadline is not necessarily a fixed point in time. Possibly the deadline will be extended but for now the plan is to begin withdrawal of forces in July, 2011. Do you want to have future political dealings with a Palin administration?
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