KARACHI: The departure of Nato combat forces from Afghanistan could push India and Pakistan towards a proxy war in the troubled nation, former military ruler retired Gen Pervez Musharraf warned in an interview with AFP.

He praised new Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, who made his first official visit to Pakistan last week to try to reset fractious relations.

Pakistan’s support is seen as crucial to Afghan peace as US-led forces pull out by the end of this year after 13 years battling the Taliban.

But the former president said calming tension between India and Pakistan is key to peace in Afghanistan.

“The danger for Pakistan is... the Indian influence in Afghanistan,” he said.

“That is another danger for the whole region and for Pakistan because Indian involvement there has an anti-Pakistan connotation. They (India) want to create an anti-Pakistan Afghanistan.

“If Indians are using some elements of the ethnic entities in Afghanistan, then Pakistan will use its own support for ethnic elements, and our ethnic elements are certainly Pashtuns,” Mr Musharraf said.

“So we are initiating a proxy war in Afghanistan. This must be avoided.” Mr Musharraf blamed India for supporting rebels in Balochistan via training camps in southern Afghanistan.

Mr Ghani and Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif pledged at the weekend to move on from the sniping and bitterness of the Karzai years, with the Afghan leader saying three days of talks had undone 13 years of differences.

But Mr Musharraf warned that regional rivalries could flourish again once Nato’s 34,000-strong combat contingent leaves by the end of next month.

“When there is an absence of all these forces, then yes there would be a vacuum... in that case there can be more serious repercussion,” he said.

Mr Musharraf said he stood by his decision to ally Pakistan with Washington in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks.

But he said that the US-led coalition which invaded Afghanistan to oust the Taliban had “failed to convert a military victory into a political victory” when it handed power to Tajiks and thereby alienated many Pashtuns.

Published in Dawn, November 19th , 2014