In Hindustan TimesMusharraf said he saw the growing possibility of a revolt against the Taliban paving the way for a political solution that would end the need for the daily bombing that has inflicted an increasing toll on civilians.
"No, it's not wishful thinking," Musharraf said when pressed about the prospect of desertions in the dominant Pashtun tribe that has supported the Taliban so far.
"Who is the head of the Pashtun? Not the Taliban. It is a very calculated remark that I am making," said the former commando leader, declining to go into details about who he expected to leave the Taliban. PROMOTING REVOLT
Musharraf defended the Taliban until the September 11 attacks on the United States, when he lined up behind the US campaign against them for sheltering Osama bin Laden, the Saudi-born militant blamed for the devastation in New York and Washington.
"Afghanistan has suffered, the people are suffering so much that I am reasonably sure there are many people who even question the wisdom of their suffering for the sake of somebody who is there and not an Afghan, like Osama bin Laden and his people," he said.
"There are some people who would be thinking on these lines and those are the people who may be waiting to change sides."
Musharraf, dressed in a striped navy suit but still sweating from a three-set evening tennis match, would not venture a guess on when the war would end in Afghanistan -- either by military victory or disintegration of the Taliban.
Iqbal Latif
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