Musharraf blames US, West for importing, breeding extremism

Musharraf blames US and the West for importing, breeding extremism into Pakistan

RAW STORY
Published: Wednesday September 13, 2006

In a speech to the European Parliament's foreign affairs committee on Tuesday, Pakistan's President General Pervez Musharraf blamed the United States and the West for "breeding terrorism in his country by bringing in thousands of mujahideen to fight the Soviet Union in Afghanistan and then leaving Pakistan alone a decade later to face the armed warriors," according to an article at Pakistan's Daily Times published on Wednesday.

"Musharraf told the European Parliament's foreign affairs committee on Tuesday that Pakistan was not the intolerant, extremist country often portrayed by the West, and terrorism and extremism were not inherent in Pakistani society," the Daily Times article continues.

Excerpts from article:

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"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."

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