NEW YORK, Sept 26: President Gen Pervez Musharraf on Monday declared that it was not Pakistan but poppy cultivation in Afghanistan that was ‘financing the Taliban’.

He was responding to a question after launch of his book at the Council of Foreign Relations about the impression that Pakistan was sponsoring the Taliban.

The president vehemently rejected the notion that headquarters of Taliban was in Quetta as was the Taliban leadership in Pakistan.

“I challenge anyone who says that. This is the most ridiculous statement and thought. The financing of Taliban comes from poppy growth in Afghanistan. We don’t have so much money to finance them,” the president told an American professor.

“The government of Pakistan and ISI are not facilitating the Taliban,” he categorically stated. His hunch was that Taliban leader Mullah Omar was controlling the radical militia from southern Afghanistan.

Pointing to the fact that Pakistan and the US had very close coordination in the war on terror, President Musharraf said if there was a failure or a lapse anywhere then CIA was equally to be blamed.

Cautioning against the blame game, the president said it weakened the coalition.

On Afghanistan he said Pakistan was playing a very neutral role and totally supported President Karzai.

“I believe he (Karzai) is the right person but he must understand the realities,” he said, adding that Pakistan favoured a balanced representation of all ethnic groups in Afghanistan including Tajiks, Hazaras and Pakhtoons.

Ridiculing the outdated list of Taliban leaders along with their addresses and telephone numbers handed over to him by the Afghan intelligence chief during President Karzai’s visit to Pakistan, Musharraf said it was three to four months old. He told the gathering that CIA operatives in Pakistan were also taken along by the Pakistani security forces to check out the addresses.

He pointed out that the Afghan government had rejected Pakistan’s proposal of fencing and mining the border which could help curb cross-border infiltration.

The President noted that opening of more fronts like Lebanon and Iraq after 9/11 terror attacks on the US had further complicated the international campaign against terrorism. Advocating a comprehensive all-encompassing strategy to counter terrorism and extremism, he repeatedly underscored that the world must fully understand the environment.

On the Indo-Pakistan peace process, the president expressed confidence in the Indian leadership and said: “I have faith and trust in him (Prime Minister Manmohan Singh).”

He referred to his meeting with the Indian prime minister in Havana as a significant step towards the negotiated settlement of outstanding disputes including Jammu and Kashmir. He disagreed with the view that China was also a party to the Kashmir dispute and said: “Let us not complicate it further; it is between India and Pakistan.”

—Q.A.