Washington, Nov. 13: Islamabad used its support to terror outfits as a hedge against India and an unfriendly Afghan regime, so that the two neighbours of Pakistan do not undermine it, the US Secretary of State, Ms Hillary Clinton said.
“They (Pakistan) have in the past hedged against both India and an unfriendly regime in Afghanistan by supporting groups that will be their proxies in trying to prevent either India or an unfriendly Afghan Government from undermining their position,” she said.
Ms Clinton said now things are “changing”, but she cannot confirm whether Pakistan has stopped the use of terror against India and Afghanistan.
“That is changing. Now, I cannot sit here and tell you that it has changed, but that is changing,” she told ABC News in an interview, the transcripts of which was released by the state department.
Ms Clinton accepted that US had created certain radical outfits and supported terrorists like Osama bin Laden to fight against the erstwhile Soviet Union, but that backing has boomeranged.
“Part of what we are fighting against right now, the United States created. We created the mujahideen force against the Soviet Union (in Afghanistan). We trained them, we equipped them, we funded them, including somebody named Osama bin Laden. And it didn’t work out well for us,” she said.