The Hindu : Osama: U.S. should share responsibility, says Musharraf

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Sep 28, 2003

International

International

Osama: U.S. should share responsibility, says Musharraf

By B. Muralidhar Reddy

ISLAMABAD Sep. 27. In yet another sign that all is not well in the cooperation between Pakistan and the U.S. in the hunt for the Al-Qaeda and the Taliban, the Pakistan President, Pervez Musharraf, has said that if more foreign forces are not deployed in Afghanistan, the Taliban may join forces with regional warlords and overthrow the Karzai government.

In a candid interview with the Canadian English daily, The Globe and Mail, Gen. Musharraf has said if he and the ISI were held responsible for failure to nab Osama Bin Laden, George W. Bush and CIA too cannot escape accountability. Gen. Musharraf gave the interview after meeting his American counterpart, George Bush. Mr. Musharraf said Osama was not only alive but was also freely moving between Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Asked whether Osama was alive, he replied: "Yes, indeed. I am reasonably sure." He referred to the Al-Qaeda and Taliban fugitives as "very clever" and said they enjoyed widespread support in the lawless border areas. As a military officer, he said he had high regard for the Taliban fighters who ruled Afghanistan and provided sanctuary to the Al-Qaeda, and now appear to be regrouping in the border provinces with Pakistan.

After the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, the U.S. government has provided critical technical support to the manhunt, in the form of cellphone interceptors and pilotless Predator aircraft. But the fugitives still held the upper hand because of their links to the local population.

He said a growing sense of hostility between largely Muslim nations and the West was the most serious problem facing the world. "There is general feeling that maybe the Muslim world or the religion of Islam is being targeted (by Western governments). This is a general feeling. This is the main problem, actually, I would say in the whole Muslim world, in the masses of the Muslim world. In the common man in the Muslim world.

"This is the perception. While the perception in the West is the opposite, that Islam as a religion is a religion of extremism, terrorism, fundamentalism, and intolerance. These two perceptions are alive in the whole world and this is very dangerous."

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