By Masood Haider

NEW YORK, Nov 9: Former chief of the army staff Gen (retd) Pervez Musharraf has criticised India for creating an anti-Pakistan Afghanistan.

“If I'm allowed to be very, very frank, India's role in Afghanistan is to create an anti-Pakistan Afghanistan,” he said at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York on Tuesday.

“This is very clear to me. There are Indian consulates actually involved in creating trouble in Pakistan. They have no other role,” the former president said.

“Why wouldn't the consulates be somewhere in the north facing Uzbekistan and Tajikistan?” he asked.

Pakistan has long voiced concern over India's role in Afghanistan. US officials have given little credence to the assertions, with President Barack Obama in a speech on Monday in the Indian parliament praising New Delhi's assistance to the war-torn country.

When it was pointed out that Taliban and Al Qaeda leaders – including perhaps Osama bin Laden – have been able to escape US-led forces in Afghanistan by crossing into safe havens in Pakistan's areas bordering Afghanistan, the retired general said: “Pakistan is trying its best. Why is the responsibility only on Pakistan? Why is the responsibility of their coming into Pakistan not the fault of Afghan forces and US forces and coalition forces?”