Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf made some stunning remarks recently:

Pakistan’s President Pervez Musharraf said on Saturday that the United States and its allies will fail in the “war on terror” without the support of Pakistan and its intelligence service.

“You will be brought down to your knees if Pakistan doesn’t co-operate with you. That is all that I would like to say. Pakistan is the main ally. If we were not with you, you would not manage anything. Let that be clear,” he said.

“And if the ISI (Inter Services Intelligence) is not with you, you will fail. Let that be very clear also. Remember my words: if the ISI is not with you and Pakistan is not with you will lose in Afghanistan.”

Earlier this week, a leaked document from a Britain’s Defence Ministry think-tank accused Pakistan’s intelligence agency, ISI, of indirectly supporting extremism in Afghanistan, Iraq and Britain by backing the MNA coalition of Pakistani religious parties.

Musharraf strongly denied the claims.

“From 1979 to 1989 we fought the Soviet Union for you. We won the Cold War for you,” he said, explaining that the Pakistan army and ISI played a part in training the tens of thousands of mujahideen fighters to resist the Soviets.

But after the Soviet withdrawal, the West left Pakistan “high and dry”, he said, leading to the creation of the radicalised Taliban and Al Qaeda from the remnants of the mujahudeen resistance.

In U.S. Dance with Pakistan and Iran Over Nuclear Programs, I pointed out how it would be impossible for A. Q. Khan to have given Iran nuclear technology and equipment without the ISI (Inter-Services Intelligence) of Pakistan knowing, and perhaps even assisting, in this proliferation.

It is commonly known now that the Pakistan military tired of battling the tribes and Taliban, leading to the autonomy of Waziristan and potentially other provinces.  This autonomy is allowing the Taliban to recruit and train large numbers of troops, as well as launch special operations-size raids across the border.  Now, we learn from India that the ISI was behind the Mumbai bombings, and apparently, India knows a great deal about the details of their involvement.

Musharraf is in under some political pressure in his own country, and the Waziristan accords enjoy support not only in the effected provinces, but in the media as well.

The stunning nature of Musharraf’s comments have to do not with their timing, nor their recipient.  The comments were intended to be heard by both his own people and the international community.  He wants to convince his own people that he is their savior, and the international community that Musharraf’s involvement is essential.

But recent history is showing that while Pakistan is important to the GWOT, Musharraf is increasingly irrelevant to the it, and thus Musharraf’s need to go on the offensive to show otherwise.  The most troubling aspect of Musharraf’s remarks is that either [a] he believes these things, or [b] he doesn’t.  If he believes these things, then he is delusional and mentally unstable and thus his regime is sure to fail, leaving a rogue nuclear state in the hands of Islamic facists.  If he doesn’t believe these things, then Musharraf proves the opposite of what he wants.  He proves that it is so manifestly obvious to the international community that Pakistan is so powerless against the Taliban and the ISI that a massive and embarrassing public relations campaign is warranted.

Musharraf is trying to save his regime, and thus we should be concerned over its viability.  Musharraf essentially said so to the BBC:

“Now, without understanding, everyone blames us for what is happening in Pakistan. It is something that is happening, understand it and help us.”