Pakistan PM Imran Khan has expressed regret over his country’s decision to support the United States-led ‘war on terror’ in Afghanistan, adding that Pakistan joined the war only for ‘dollars’ and not in “public interest”.

Khan said Pakistan’s decision to join America’s 20-year-long war in Afghanistan was a ‘self-inflicted wound’ and one that was taken for monetary purposes and not by considering the welfare of the general public.

The observations were made by the Pakistani Prime Minister in Islamabad while addressing the officers of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. “I am well aware of what considerations there were behind the decision. Unfortunately, the people of Pakistan were not a consideration,” said while speaking about Pakistan’s policy of extending support to the United States in their war against terrorism in the wake of the 9/11 attacks.

“The considerations, instead, were the same as in the 1980s, when we participated in the Afghan jihad,” he said while referring to the Soviet-Afghan war.

Imran Khan, who has often rued over Pakistan’s fight against terrorism, said he was in thick with the leadership in 2001 when the military ruler General Pervez Musharaff decided to become a part of America’s campaign in Afghanistan.

“We have ourselves to be blamed… as we let [others] use us, sacrificed the reputation of our country for aid and made a foreign policy that went against the public interest [and was devised] for money,” he said.

Imran Khan’s sympathetic attitude towards terror groups, particularly Taliban

While this is not the first time that Khan has felt remorse over his country’s decision to join the global fight against terrorism. Time and again, he has condemned the decision and indirectly sympathised with terrorists, blaming the West for the crisis bedevilling Pakistan. Recently, Khan was all-praise for the Taliban after it stormed the Afghan capital and exerted its control over the country. Days after the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan, Khan heaped praises on the terror group, congratulating them on their victory and asserting that “Afghanistan had broken the shackles of slavery”.

In the past, Khan had hailed the Taliban and spoken in support of the terror outfit. It is his persistent praise and admiration for the Taliban which had earned him the moniker of ‘Taliban Khan’. The Pakistani Prime Minister has also been persistently beseeching the western countries to grant monetary assistance to the Taliban to build the strife-torn country. With the country’s Prime Minister commiserating with the Taliban, it is anybody’s guess how enthusiastic the Pakistani establishment would be to champion the cause of the Taliban.

Pakistan-The sword arm of Taliban

For years, Pakistan has pulled the wool over the West’s eyes by making deceptive claims of support to its war against the Taliban and Al Qaeda. Far from promoting western interests, it was assiduously working to safeguard, nurture and fortify the Taliban. When the west finally decided to call it quits of its disastrous campaign in Afghanistan, the Pakistan-backed Taliban displayed remarkable dexterity in seizing control of Afghanistan. 

The lightning offensive of the Taliban, the simultaneous fall of Afghan provinces, the surrender of the Afghan forces, all hint towards a mega plan hatched to lay control of Afghanistan. In the current context and given their historical association with the Taliban, it won’t be a wild exaggeration to surmise Pakistani involvement in the comprehensive takeover of Afghanistan. 

The Pakistani complicity in fostering the Taliban was acknowledged by the US Secretary of State Antony Blinken during his first testimony before Congress since the terror group took control of Kabul. Blinken stated that Pakistan is responsible for harbouring the Taliban and the terrorists from the proscribed Haqqani Network. 

It is also worth noting that earlier this month, former Afghan vice president Amrullah Saleh too accused Pakistan of being in cahoots with the Taliban. He alleged that the Taliban are being micromanaged by Pakistan’s notorious intelligence agency–the ISI, adding that Islamabad is in charge of the war-ravaged country effectively as a colonial power.

References:

opindia.com - OpIndia Staff