US not aware of details regarding Musharraf expose

With former Pakistan president Pervez Musharraf candidly admitting that aid provided by the United States of America for the war against terrorism was diverted during his tenure to strengthen defences against India, a State Department official has said that there were very few details available for them to respond to the allegation.

Spokesman Ian Kelly also said that all such allegations were taken seriously by the US and that there were procedures to investigate any diversion of its aid by any country. He however refused to confirm if any investigation in this regard was in place with respect to Pakistan.

A Pakistan Navy P-3C Orion aircraft

Kelly said the allegations were not specific and as of now the US was not aware of any such violations. "This is former President who has made these allegations. We take seriously any allegations like this. But simply we don't have the details to be able to respond to the allegations,"

"First of all, Mr Musharraf is a private citizen. He provided very few details, so we would refer you to him to get these kinds of details. I would just say, as a general principle, we take very serious any allegation of using US-originating military assistance for purposes other than we had already agreed to and that we had intended them for," Kelly said. 

In an interview to a Pakistani news channel, Musharraf admitted he had violated rules governing the use of the military aid, but justified his action, saying he had "acted in the best interest of Pakistan".

When the person in conversation with Musharraf asked him if it was alright to use US military aid against India, Musharraf said, "Yes, whenever there is threat to Pakistan, we will use it. If the threat is from Taliban, we will use it there and if it is against India it will still be used. The way US military aid has been used is completely justified."