General Musharaf’s Taliban Policy 1999-2008

Abstract

In the spring of 1999, Pakistan army chief, General Pervez Musharraf, gained international notoriety for launching an armed assault on the Kargil in Indian Kashmir. In October of the same year, he deposed the elected government of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and was widely condemned in the Western capitals for his military coup. However, his image was completely transformed in Western eyes when he took a U-turn in Pakistan’s policy of supporting the Taliban in neighbouring Afghanistan, in the aftermath of the tragic events of September 11, 2001. In fact, in the beginning General Musharraf continued the pervious government policy of supporting the Taliban regime in Afghanistan. Although this policy change earned him a considerable disrepute at home, where a large section of the population supported the Taliban and majority of the people in Pakistan opposed the U.S. bombing of Afghanistan. Since Pakistan actively joined American war against Al-Qaeda, and Taliban in Afghanistan, Pakistan took U-turn in her policy towards Taliban. Therefore, in reward Pakistan got U.S. economic and military aid. The main objective of this paper is to discuss General Musharaf’s Taliban policy in detail. This paper is divided into two parts: first part of the paper analyzes pre- 9/11 Taliban policy and, post 9/11 policy would be discussed in the second part of the paper.