Pakistan's former president, General Pervez Musharraf, said Islamabad's decision to recognize the Taliban regime in Afghanistan was a "blunder," but he did blame the US and other Western nations for the birth of al Qaeda.

Musharraf, who was president from 1999 to 2008, said Pakistan was the only country that recognized the Taliban government in Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001.

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Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates backed out of recognizing Afghanistan's fundamentalist regime.

The former military ruler said the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979 changed the political climate worldwide and "three blunders" were committed by the US, which left the region after the withdrawal of the Soviets.

The "first blunder was not to rehabilitate the 25,000 Afghan Mujahideen who fought in the war against USSR and they then came to Pakistan which led to the formation of al Qaeda," he said.

"The second blunder was the West's refusal to recognize Taliban," he said, adding the world negatively viewed Pakistan because of recognizing the Taliban regime.

He revealed that, in 2000, then US President Bill Clinton came to Pakistan to reprimand the government for recognizing the Taliban.

Moving on to the third blunder, the former president said the invasion of US-led NATO forces in Afghanistan pushed militants to mountainous areas.

"A vacuum was created in Afghanistan which had to be overcome by changing military victory into a political victory," he said, explaining an ethnically balanced government representing Pakhtuns was needed. "But because this did not happen, the Taliban started reviving in 2003."

Musharraf said the Taliban was self-created because of the environment that existed in Afghanistan at that time.

"Some say Taliban are our children and we created them... but it's not true," the former president said.

Musharraf also said tensions between Pakistan and India will always exist until the Kashmir issue is not resolved.

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