WASHINGTON: Ex-President Pervez Musharraf hit out Sunday at Afghan President Hamid Karzai for forging a training alliance with India, saying Islamabad had offered him similar help but been rebuffed.
"We've opened up all our training institutions free of cost. Come to Pakistan and we'll train you. Not one has come. What is his game?" Musharraf told CNN's Fareed Zakaria GPS program.
Musharraf, who ruled Pakistan as a military dictator and later as a civilian president between 2001 and 2008 said he had been "bending backwards" for Karzai to send people to Islamabad instead of New Delhi.
He said that a phased pullout of US troops from Afghanistan, which is due to be completed by 2014, had pushed Karzai closer to India.
"India is certainly -- certainly doing that. And unfortunately, the Afghan government is going along," the former general said, adding that countries in the region are seeking to to fill the void left by America.
"I mean I know that diplomats, intelligence personnel, military men, security people go to India for training," he said.
The former Pakistan leader however praised Karzai for recently stating that Afghanistan would back Pakistan if the United States were to launch a military attack on the latter, a prospect which Musharraf dismissed.
"I think it's totally preposterous to imagine this kind of thing," Musharraf said. "And then I thank him that this is the first time he's made a pro-Pakistan statement."
Musharraf, who has lived in exile since stepping down in 2008 but hopes to launch a political comeback next year, has previously insisted that Islamabad's historic rival India is trying to turn Afghanistan against Pakistan.
India has given more than $2 billion in aid to war-torn Afghanistan and signed a strategic partnership with Karzai earlier this month.
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