Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Thursday, September 12, 2002
Pakistan Wants No Part in an Attack on Iraq
President Pervez Musharraf of Pakistan said Wednesday that an American decision to attack Iraq would inflame Islamic extremism in his country and across the region and that therefore "we would not like to be involved" in it.
President Pervez Musharraf of Pakistan said Wednesday that an American decision to attack Iraq would inflame Islamic extremism in his country and across the region and that therefore "we would not like to be involved" in it.
He said he would caution President Bush, whom he is to meet today after a United Nations General Assembly session, to seek the consensus of the international community and of Muslim nations before starting military operations against Iraq.
He expressed concern that any expansion of war in the region might undermine the allied campaign to stabilize Afghanistan and strengthen its central government. An assassination attempt last week against Hamid Karzai, the Afghan leader, set off a spike in anxiety levels among coalition forces and allies supporting the new leadership.
"The operation needs to be taken to its logical end," he said. "It needs to be culminated with government established over the whole of Afghanistan. Leaving it half there would be extremely dangerous."
In discussing the potential American campaign against Iraq, General Musharraf indicated that it was a highly sensitive issue in Pakistan's domestic politics in advance of parliamentary elections next month.
"Pakistan is facing problems in its own region," he said. "We have too much on our plate, too much on our hands, internally, domestically, and on our western border, and eastern border with India, Kashmir. We would not like to be involved in anything more than this."