Army coup possible if Pak govt doesn’t perform: ex-Saudi intelligence chief

LAHORE: The Pakistan Army did not want to intervene in politics, but there could be a coup if the civilian government did not improve its performance, Prince Turki al-Faisal, the former Saudi intelligence chief, said on Monday. He said Pakistan could survive the Taliban threat provided its military remains intact. The former ambassador to Washington also called for the speedy withdrawal of United States and North Atlantic Treaty Organization forces from Afghanistan, saying that they are “not welcome” there. “As long as the armed forces are intact, the state is not going to be at risk,” he told The Washington Times. The prince, who oversaw the funding two decades ago that helped create the Taliban during the fight against the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan, downplayed concerns about Pakistan’s stability. The former Saudi intelligence chief said the Taliban were not a monolithic organisation and suggested that Islamabad had not found the right way of dealing with them. He added that “one of the biggest stumbling blocks” in his work, as intelligence chief until 2001 was the United States protection of sources coming from other countries. daily times monitor