DUBAI, Oct 4: American Al Qaeda figure Adam Gadahn described Pakistan’s new leaders as US puppets in a war against militants in an internet video posted on Saturday.

“The Pakistan Army ... and the professional spreaders of lies at their service are trying to make us believe that the state of Pakistan has turned a new leaf (after US-allied former President Pervez Musharraf left power),” Gadahn said in the video posted on Islamist websites.

“These are not the leaders Pakistan wants and deserves. They are the leaders America wants and preserves in order to reach its policy objectives, hinder the jihad against the crusaders in Afghanistan ... and ensure that nuclear-capable Pakistan remains docile, contained and shariah-free,” Gadahn said.

“Their battle has always been and remains to be America’s battle, not Pakistan’s. And this battle (against militants) is what has brought Pakistan to the verge of break-up,” said Gadahn, also known as Azzam the American.

Gadahn, born Adam Pearlman, is a California-born convert and the first American to be charged with treason since World War Two. He is believed to be in Pakistan.

Faced with an intensifying Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan, US forces in the past month have carried out missile strikes with pilotless drones and a commando raid on the Pakistani side of the border.

The strikes have strained relations between the allies.

—Reuters