Pervez Musharraf announces victory!

A lot of Iraq critics have argued that the best thing to do in the country now is “declare victory and go home.” Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf seems to be pursuing a variant of this strategy with regard to his Northwest Frontier. This is according to the Financial Times‘ Farhan Bokhari et al: General Pervez ...

By , a professor of international politics at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University and co-host of the Space the Nation podcast.

A lot of Iraq critics have argued that the best thing to do in the country now is "declare victory and go home." Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf seems to be pursuing a variant of this strategy with regard to his Northwest Frontier. This is according to the Financial Times' Farhan Bokhari et al:

A lot of Iraq critics have argued that the best thing to do in the country now is “declare victory and go home.” Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf seems to be pursuing a variant of this strategy with regard to his Northwest Frontier. This is according to the Financial Times‘ Farhan Bokhari et al:

General Pervez Musharraf, Pakistan’s military ruler, claims that the command and control system of al-Qaeda in his country has been destroyed, excluding any possibility that the terrorist network could have carried out this month’s bombings in London and Egypt. In comments that British officials will view with scepticism, Gen Musharraf said al-Qaeda’s sanctuaries in the northern tribal region bordering Afghanistan had been destroyed and 700 fighters captured. However, Egyptian authorities on Monday said they were investigating possible Pakistani militant suspects in connection with the bombing early on Saturday at Egypt’s Sharm el Sheikh resort. Meanwhile, in London British officials have expressed growing frustration with the Pakistani security service’s inability to crack down on militants or keep a comprehensive register of madrassahs. Three of the four suicide bombers who killed 56 people in London on July 7 were Britons of Pakistani origin…. Pakistani officials said privately that they had asked Egypt to share any information on the identities of such suspects but the government publicly denied the connection. ?What has appeared on these Arab TV channels is highly speculative,? Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao, the interior minister, said. ?We have no knowledge of any such link and I don’t think it is true.? Gen Musharraf was adamant there was no connection. ?Is it possible in this situation that an al-Qaeda man sitting here, no matter who he is, may control things in London, Sharm el Sheikh, Istanbul or Africa?? he said. ?This is absolutely wrong.?

Daniel W. Drezner is a professor of international politics at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University and co-host of the Space the Nation podcast. Twitter: @dandrezner

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