Bolton Urges Full Support For Musharraf
By Pat Dollard on general
UNITED NATIONS, Nov 9 (AFP) Nov 09, 2007
Former US envoy to the UN John Bolton on Friday questioned the need for elections in Pakistan and urged full support for embattled President Pervez Musharraf as the best hope for keeping the country's nuclear weapons secure.
"The question is what is the policy to maximize the chances that the (nuclear) weapons do not fall into the wrong hands," Bolton told reporters here. "I think for the moment the answer to that is support for Musharraf."
And he suggested that US President George W. Bush's administration has "contributed to some of the (current) instability (in Pakistan) by implying less than robust support of Musharraf."
"Second-guessing what's going on in Islamabad, forcing elections, you wonder when we are finally going to learn our lessons," the fiesty former US diplomat, who resigned as ambassador to the world body last December, said. "We forced an election in the Palestinian territories and got (the Islamist movement) Hamas as the victor."
"An appreciation of Pakistani history does not give much reason for confidence that a civilian leader can keep the military under control and keep the nuclear weapons secure," he added.
Noting that the "highest US strategic interest is in making sure that Pakistan's nuclear weapons remain under secure command and control," Bolton warned of the risks of a coup d'etat there by Islamic fundamentalists or an assassination of Musharraf.
He also cautioned against a "state of anarchy after a coup attempt where military discipline would break down and the military would lose command and control over some of the (nuclear) weapons that would find their way to al-Qaeda (extremists)."
Sunday, Musharraf declared a nationwide state of emergency in Pakistan as he faced the most serious challenge to his rule since he seized power in a coup eight years ago.
After US President George W. Bush bluntly told him to proceed with planned general elections and to step down as army chief, Musharraf announced Thursday that the elections, initially planned for January 15, would be held by February 15.
Bolton, now a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute — a Washington think tank — returned to UN headquarters Friday to present his new book "Surrender is Not an Option," a 456-page chronicle of his 16-month tenure at the UN and his spirited defense of US interests there as well as abroad. |
