Musharraf: Iraq war is a mistake

12/6/2004 11:00:00 AM GMT

Pakistan's president said this weekend that the U.S. decision to invade Iraq was a mistake that has made the world a less safe place.

"I think it's less safe," Gen. Pervez Musharraf said on CNN's "Late Edition with Wolf Blitzer."

"We have landed ourselves in more trouble" as a result of the U.S.-led invasion, Musharraf said.

When asked whether he views the invasion as a mistake, Mr. Musharraf said: "With hindsight, yes. We have landed ourselves in more trouble, yes."

Musharraf met with U.S. President George W. Bush in Washington on Saturday and now he is in London for talks with British Prime Minister Tony Blair.

In his visit to Washington, Pakistan President and President George W. Bush’s meeting focused on issues linked to terrorism, bilateral concerns, relations between India and Pakistan and the Palestinian crisis.

Although the toppled Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein "was a hated man", many Iraqis have now turned their wrath on the U.S.-led forces, Musharraf said.

"People at the lower level don't like the visibility of foreign troops who are in their country," he said.

Pakistan was one of many countries that opposed the U.S. decision to go on war on Iraq.

However, Musharraf said that an immediate withdrawal of the U.S. troops wouldn’t be a wise decision, saying that only after the country holds its general elections scheduled for January, and the situation is stabilized should the United States consider withdrawing.

"[An early withdrawal] would create more problems in the region," Musharraf said.

"We need to stabilize and be sure that we have elections, and then make sure the elections are successful, and only then have an exit strategy," he added.

Yesterday, Iraq's interim President Ghazi al-Yawar said on NBC that the country’s national election will be carried out as scheduled and appealed to the United Nations "and the whole international community" for help in conducting the vote.

"The worst thing to do is postpone," Yawar said on NBC's "Meet the Press." "That will give the insurgents a tactical victory. The problem is not that people are reluctant to vote. People are scared".

"If we can do something in this area by enhancing the security situation, a lot of people are ready to join in," he said.

Bin Laden still alive

Regarding the search for bin Laden, the Pakistani leader said that the withdrawal of 7,000 Pakistani troops from South Waziristan, along the border with Afghanistan, did not mean that his country’s commitment to the hunt for Al Qaeda leader was declining.

"They are getting relocated in a manner that we keep this whole area under our control and then we use all our intelligence means, all our resources, to locate every terrorist, and let's fight them," Musharraf said.

"When you talk only of bin Laden, frankly, the issue is not going and locating one individual," Musharraf said.

Musharraf said in previous interviews that bin Laden suffers kidney problems and needs dialysis.

When asked if he still believes that, Musharraf said he now knows only that bin Laden is alive.

"All the intelligence said that he had -- he suffers from -- kidney problems, that he got dialysis machines into the area. But since then, he is alive, that I am sure of. I don't really know how much he is suffering," he said.