For history, let me set the record straight on this interview I did in 2012 for a news website with ex-#ISI chief late LtGen Retd Hameed Gul. He personally liked me but also knew that I supported many of the political ideas of former President Gen. #Musharraf. /1 @MAbdullahGul
When LtGen. Gul in this clip said to me, "Why don't you understand?", I stopped recording a couple of minutes later and asked him bluntly, "Was Gen. Musharraf a traitor?" based on what LtGen. Hameed Gul was saying here. He took a long few seconds, gazing at the floor. /2
LtGen Hameed Gul took his time thinking, expressionless. It was a long silence. Then he raised his head and firmly said, "No." Calmer now, he then went on to explain, off-record, that he disagreed politically with President Musharraf but that Gen. Musharraf was not a traitor. /3
It took tremendous courage for LtGen Hameed Gul to rise above partisanship and speak as a professional soldier off-camera and say something about @P_Musharraf that was somewhat different from what he was saying publicly. /4
At the time, LtGen Hameed Gul was eyeing a political career and was in talks with several political parties to formally join one of them [including talks with @ImranKhanPTI to join @PTIofficial]. His statements in this video are in line with the usual Pakistani politics. /5
LtGen Hameed Gul was part of one of the largest projects of #US-#Pakistan strategic and intelligence cooperation (and rightly so; never considered that wrong). The statements in this clip [] should be taken more as politics than a strategic assessment. /6

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More from @_AhmedQuraishi

8 Oct
Interesting coincidence that #US @DeputySecState Wendy Sherman is in #Pakistan two days after her #Iran counterpart Deputy FM Ali Bagheri was here. DepSecState @wendyrsherman played a key role in the original #JCPOA negotiations. /1 ImageImage
#Iran Deputy FM visit in the same week is coincidental. @DeputySecState Wendy Sherman's visit is focused on #Afghanistan, and the "important and longstanding #US-#Pakistan relationship," in her words. Here's @StateDeptSpox statement on the meeting with NSA @YusufMoeed. /2 Image
DepSecState Sherman's visit comes at the intersection of several issues: topping the list is #Afghanistan, but also jitters in #India at the renewed #USPakistan engagement, and the regional security situation [#Gulf+South Asia+#China]. /3
Read 8 tweets
16 Sep
#Pakistan was never a "hired gun" in any war, and it has entered many wars - near and far - for its interests, like any other nation. The narrative of a hired gun is a claptrap; earns political points, but is demeaning for the country, insulting, and self-defeating. /1
History is debatable, but #Pakistan smartly dragged the #US and the free world into a war against the Soviet Union in #Afghanistan; & rightly so. Pak benefited from the project, and also paid a heavy price. The actions of a smart nation that effectively defended its interests. /2
#Pakistan joined the #Bosnia war vs #Serbia+#Russia; helped #Azerbaijan vs #Armenia, #Kuwait vs #Iraq; #Jordan vs militants; supported freedom movements in #Algeria+#Tunisia; backed Western allies in Suez Crisis, helped Kashmiris, & helped counter communism in Arab countries. /3
Read 8 tweets
16 Sep
In #Dushanbe, PM @ImranKhanPTI met for the first time with #Iran's new President #Raisi, and encouraged him to seize the opportunity to help in ending the war in #Afghanistan, in a delicate attempt to overcome #Tehran's recent criticism of alleged Pak military role in #Kabul. /1
The quadrilateral meeting between #Russia #China #Pakistan #Iran on the sidelines of the #Dushanbe summit of Shanghai Cooperation Organization #SCO provided another opportunity for Islamabad and Tehran to clear the air, with Russian & Chinese help. /2

On the day PM @ImranKhanPTI & Pres #Raisi met in #Dushanbe, SL #Khamenei-linked Kayhan newspaper accused #Pakistan's spy agency #ISI of dividing #Afghanistan's people & called on #Taliban to distance itself from Pak claiming Afghans "hate" the neighbor /3

Read 6 tweets
12 Sep
Criticism mounts in Pakistani Twitter on a campaign in #Iran that links #Pakistan to alleged #Panjshir/#Afghanistan [This meme is viral: ]. But a self-censorship persists in Pak media on critiquing Iranian foreign policy. I explore this in this #thread /1
Near total [unofficial] blackout on this story in #Pakistan media [] (incl on statements by Iranian MFA spox; ex-pres #Ahmadinejad in Indian media). This self-censorship is unusual; leads to questions like this journo to Minister: /2
#Iran's regional outlook, incl on #Afghanistan, needs better study in #Pakistan. The policy of self-censorship on discussing Iran on Pak media should end. Also, decouple Iran study/analysis from religion/sect; and decouple it from our #GCC relations. /3
Read 7 tweets
12 Sep
#Israel unmasks secret #Iran based where the #IRGC trains and distributes drone technologies to proxy militias across the region.

See

And
#Iran counters the negative publicity today centered on #Israel revealing the location of secret Iranian base that trains proxy regional militias by making public this decision: granting visual access to IAEA to Iranian installations

The #US embassy in #Iraq raises alarm on the drone attack at #ErbilAirport

Read 4 tweets
18 Jul
#Pakistan foreign minister visits Chinese citizens injured in bus blast, with #China Amb, at military hospital. This #thread includes observations on China's keenness to get involved militarily in combating terrorism, its policy shortcomings, & FM+Amb statement. /1
After the blast, #China is emitting signals that it is exerting pressure for more antiterror action in #Pakistan, including possibly joint missions with Pakistani forces. /2
One example is how quickly #China recast the bus incident as a terrorist attack after #Pakistan initially downplayed the incident. And quickly floated Chinese security assistance "if #Islamabad has any need to combat terrorism." /3
Read 7 tweets

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