Former US official says Musharraf practiced selective counterterrorism

Washington, Aug 19 : A former US government official at the White House has said that former Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf had indulged into "selective counter-terrorism" by pursuing only a few terrorists.

Reacting to yesterday's dramatic development in Islamabad, other US counterterrorism officials and Pakistan analysts said that Musharraf's resignation may not hurt the US-led war on terror because the Pakistani leader "had not done a particularly good job" of confronting international terrorist organisations al Qaeda and the Taliban, say. According to them, Musharraf's civilian successors may, however, have an even more difficult time in containing the menace of terrorism.

Bruce Riedel, a former senior official on the White House National Security Council, said that Musharraf "was never the indispensable man that George Bush saw him as and he never delivered on many of the promises he made to Bush".

Riedel has authored an upcoming book "The Search for al Qaeda: Its Leadership, Ideology and Future."

"Musharraf practiced selective counterterrorism pursuing a few top al Qaeda figures such as Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, the purported mastermind of the Sept. 11 attacks, but allowing the terrorist organization to build a new sanctuary in Pakistan that is growing by the day," the Washington Times quoted Riedel as saying.

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice called the former general "a friend to the US and one of the world's most committed partners in the war against terrorism and extremism".

She said Musharraf "made the critical choice to join the fight against al Qaeda, the Taliban and other extremist groups that threaten the peace and security of Pakistan, its neighbors and partners throughout the world. For this, he has our deep gratitude."

ANI