President Pervez Musharraf has said there is an 'impending danger' of Pakistan becoming a target for 'Western forces' after the Iraq crisis.

"We will have to work on our own to stave off the danger. Nobody will come to our rescue, not even the Islamic world. We will have to depend on our muscle," The News daily quoted Musharraf as saying at a meeting of businesspeople and industrialists on Saturday.

On the Taliban and Al Qaeda regrouping, he said, "Some foreigners in Pakistan are harming US interests here, though we take them as brothers."

Musharraf also appealed to Pakistanis to shun extremism. "Muslims are suffering everywhere, but in the hour of need no one would help us because everyone has his own interests. We will have to be a very moderate county not with a confrontationist approach, but with liberal mind."

He said he wanted American troops to stay in Afghanistan to improve the security in that war-torn country. "I think the US, for the time being, should stay for the stability of Afghanistan, which would ultimately benefit Pakistan. All the gas and oil pipelines would pass through Pakistan once peace is restored in Afghanistan," Musharraf said.