Urging the Bush administration to facilitate an "exit strategy" for President Pervez Musharraf, former Pakistan premier Benazir Bhutto has warned that if the general remained in power that would mean the takeover of her country by the Al Qaeda and Taliban.
"I can tell you that if General Musharraf stays, Al Qaeda or Taliban people taking over the country will become a reality," Bhutto said in an interview to CNN.
"It's under his watch that the Taliban have reorganised themselves and taken over the tribal areas of Pakistan. They are now expanding into the settled areas of the (North West) Frontier Province. They have their eye on our capital city of Islamabad. Al Qaeda has regrouped, too. So these forces are now launching attacks in nearby Afghanistan and Pakistan," Bhutto said.
Bhutto warned that "dictatorship" in her country was a threat to both Pakistan and Afghanistan.
"I would like the US to facilitate an exit strategy for General Musharraf. I don't believe it's in the United States of America's interests to have Pakistan implode... I give my fair, honest advice that the longer that General Musharraf stays, the more dangerous Pakistan will grow."
"And that's not because he's a bad man or an unreasonable man. But that's because he's too closely aligned with the team he put together. And that team has presided over the rise of Al Qaeda. He's simply unable to break the umbilical cord with this team. Everything he does is at the behest of the ruling party (Pakistan Muslim League-Q). And that ruling party has, I am afraid, got elements within it who are sympathisers of the Taliban and Al Qaeda," Bhutto said.