 When Sharif tried to intervene, General Musharraf stopped Sharif, and called Taliban as "valuable assets" and "Front-line defenders of Pakistan", therefore rejected any orders from Sharif to stop the Pakistan support for Taliban.However, in 2008, former U.S. Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte had defended General Musharraf, and knew the entire history of "ISI".John Negroponte clarified that time has been changed and "ISI" is making an effort to fight against terrorism.