Washington: Former Pakistani president Pervez Musharraf has alleged that Afghanistan is under influence of Indian intelligence agencies even as he admitted that there is "an ingress of the (Pakistani spy agency) ISI in every terrorist group".
In an exclusive interview with CNN on Sunday, Musharraf said, "Afghan intelligence, Afghan President, Afghan Government. Don't talk of them. I know what they do. They, by design, mislead the world."
"They talk against Pakistan, because they are under the influence of Indian intelligence, all of them," he retorted when told that "American intelligence, the Afghan government, Afghan intelligence all say" Taliban leader Mullah Omar is in Pakistan.
"The Afghan intelligence (is) entirely under the influence of Indian intelligence. We know that," added Musharraf who is currently in London.
Asked if Pakistan was not willing to really help Afghanistan succeed because it viewed Afghanistan as a client state of India, Musharraf said, "No, not at all. That is not the case."
"Whatever I am saying, I am not saying it here. I have given documentary evidence of all this to everyone. There is the documentary evidence. And we know the involvement of Indian intelligence, in India, with their intelligence," he claimed.
"I have given documentary evidence to everyone from top to bottom. Everyone knows it. And we have the documentary evidence," the former Pakistan Army chief said.
At the same time Musharraf admitted that there is an ingress of the Pakistani spy agency Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) in every group, but denied reports and statements by US leaders that ISI still supports the Taliban terrorists.
"They (ISI) will not support it (terrorists). That was not the government policy. That was not the military policy. However, there was ingress," he said.
"Always, in every group, there is an ingress of the ISI. And that is the efficiency, the effectiveness of the ISI. You must have ingress, so that you can influence all organisations.
"And it is this ingress of theirs, which doesn't mean that they are supporting them, but they have ingress. They have some contacts, which can be used for their own advantage," Musharraf said.
The former president said American and other foreign forces were not welcome in Afghanistan, but now since they are there, they should not quit before defeating the Al Qaeda and the Taliban.
"Yes, they are not welcome. Foreign troops are not welcome there (in Afghanistan)," he said when asked how the situation was any different in Afghanistan when he had opposed US forces going into Pakistani territory to deal with the terrorists.
"But now that they are there, we have to win. And quitting is not an option at all. I don't think quitting is an option at all," Musharraf said.
"Anyone who is talking of quitting doesn't understand the ramifications of quitting. He must sit down and analyse what will happen if he were to quit there without a solution.
We have to defeat the Al Qaeda, we have to dominate the Taliban, and we have to introduce a credible, legitimate government in Afghanistan. But we cannot leave before that," he said.
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