US State Department’s spokesperson Victoria Nuland. – File Photo by Reuters

WASHINGTON: The United States does not take sides in internal Pakistani politics, the US State Department has said while denying reports that former president Pervez Musharraf had visited the department to solicit support for his bid to seek re-election.

“Well, let’s start with the fact that I am not going to get into Pakistani internal politics. My understanding is that Mr Musharraf has not been in the department,” said spokesperson Victoria Nuland when asked to comment on media reports that the retired general had visited the department to solicit support.

But “some department personnel have been at either the Carnegie event or some other events that he’s been at in town,” the State Department official added.

Asked to comment on one of Mr Musharraf’s recent statements, claiming that the Zardari government had failed in running the country properly and that only he could save Pakistan from a possible collapse, Ms Nuland said: “He is a private citizen. His views are his own obviously.”

Mr Musharraf has visited Washington twice this month, lobbying US officials, lawmakers and think-tank experts to help him return to power. Mr Musharraf has also hired a lobbyist in Washington for $25,000 a month.

In a speech at Washington’s Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, the retired general explained why the Americans should help him return. He said that those who believed he had little chance of actually winning an election were wrong. He told audiences at various Washington think-tanks and briefing rooms that that he will return to Pakistan in March of next year, and urged observers not to count him out.

“Certainly there is support.... There is always support. When I resigned from my presidency, many, many people were crying in Pakistan. There were six cameramen who were filming me and four of them were crying right in front of me and it was a great distraction because I was speaking at that time,” he said.

Although he showed up an hour late, Mr Musharraf delivered a long speech, blaming foreign powers for the radicalisation of tribal groups in Pakistan and Afghanistan due to their ham-handed interventions in the region since the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979.