WASHINGTON: A testy "president" Musharraf has blamed the United States for Pakistan’s current travails and threatened to quit the scene if the elections being forced on him created a situation that was "unacceptable" to him.

Musharraf, who was virtually forced to retire from the army under western pressure and took oath as a civilian "president" last week, bristled with anger in a rambling, incoherent ABC interview on Friday in which he lashed out at both the US and the domestic opposition. He did not define what constituted "unacceptable" outcome that would cause him to leave office.

"The opposition, they have all along these five years tried to destabilise me and the government. You have to understand, we don’t want agitation here... Agitation means breaking down everything, burning things. That cannot be allowed," said the man who came to power in a military coup and anointed himself a president with the help of a constitution, judiciary and elections that were all rigged to perpetuate his rule.

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Musharraf insisted that the US share blame for Pakistan’s situation because of its inconsistent policies in the war on terror.

"If there’s a failure, it’s not Pakistan’s failure," he said, bristling when asked why his government failed to root out al-Qaida and Taliban militants from the tribal region, adding. "We are fighting terrorism everywhere...We have gone through 30 years of turmoil...we handled the situation along for 12 years. Please don’t accuse us."

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