By Steve Hynd
Pakistani president Asif Ali Zardari, during his disasterous trip to Britain, might eventually come to regret his interview with the UK's Daily Telegraph as the most disasterous move of all. He told the newspaper that he is completely in control of Pakistan's intelligence agency.
"I think that everybody is completely accountable now," he said, in an interview in a London hotel suite where a portrait of his former partner was carefully placed behind him. "The only people who need to have more room for understanding is the international community, who need to support us more."
...The ISI's connection to militant causes dates back more than 30 years to the military rule of General Zia-ul-Haq, an Islamist sympathiser who executed Ms Bhutto's father, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, and trained jihadists to fight the Soviets in neighbouring Afghanistan.
Mr Zardari's claims to have got the upper hand against it comes despite repeated assertions by British and American intelligence officials that the Pakistani government continues to turn a blind eye to extremism on its doorstep.
I think the West - and neighbours like Iran, India and Afghanistan who are plagued by terrorists they say are Pakistani-backed - should take Mr. Zardari entirely at his word. After years of reports of ISI meddling being dismissed by Pakistan as being the result of "rogue elements" within that agency, Mr. Zardari has now removed that excuse. When next the ISI are involved in backing extremists carrying out attacks, the Pakistan government as a whole should be held fully accountable.
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