Prime Minister Imran Khan has said that the us “really messed it up in Afghanistan” as he questioned the American motive of Afghan invasion in the first place than their subsequent attempts of seeking a political solution with the Taliban from an edge of weakness.
The prime minister’s remarks come because the US military and Nato are within the final stages of completing involvement in Afghanistan, which has seen a Taliban resurgence across Afghanistan.
“I think the US has really messed it up in Afghanistan,” the premier said during an appearance on PBS NewsHour, an American news program, aired on Tuesday night.
PM Khan criticized the US for trying to “look for a military solution in Afghanistan when there never was one”.
“And people like me who kept saying that there is no military solution, who know the history of Afghanistan, we were called — people like me were called anti-American. I used to be called Taliban Khan.”
He lamented that by the time the US realized that there was no military solution in Afghanistan, “unfortunately, the bargaining power of the Americans or the Nato (North Atlantic Treaty Organisation forces) had gone”.
The prime minister said the US should have opted for a political settlement much earlier when there have been as many as 150,000 Nato troops in Afghanistan.
“But once that they had reduced the troops to barely 10,000, and then, once they gave an exit date, the Taliban thought that they had won. And so, therefore, it had been very difficult for now to urge them to compromise,” he told program host Judy Woodruff.
When the interviewer asked whether he thought the Taliban resurgence was a positive development for Afghanistan, the prime minister reiterated that the sole good outcome would be a political settlement, “which is inclusive”.
“Obviously, Taliban [will be] a part of that government,” he added.
‘The last thing we would like maybe a war in Afghanistan’
The premier described the “worst-case scenario” as being one where Afghanistan descends into war. “From Pakistan’s point of view, that’s the worst-case scenario, because we then … we face two scenarios, one [of them being] a refugee problem,” he said.
“Already, Pakistan is hosting over three million Afghan refugees. And what we fear is that a protracted war would [bring] more refugees. And our economic situation isn’t much we will have another influx.”
Elaborating on the second problem, he expressed concerns that the fallout of a possible war across the border could “flow into Pakistan”.
The prime minister explained that the Taliban were ethnic Pashtuns and “if this [civil war and violence in Afghanistan] goes on, the Pashtuns on our side are going to be drawn into it.”
“That … is that the last item we would like,” he said.
‘Extremely unfair’ to allege Pakistan supported Taliban
When asked about Pakistan’s alleged military, intelligence, and support to Afghanistan, he replied: “I find this extremely unfair”.
The premier reminded Woodruff that 70,000 Pakistanis had died within the aftermath of the US war in Afghanistan, even when “Pakistan had nothing to try to to with what happened [on 9/11, 2001].”
At the time, Al Qaeda was based in Afghanistan, and “there were no militant Taliban in Pakistan,” he said, maintaining that no Pakistan was involved in the attack on World Trade Centre.
“We had nothing to try to to with,” he repeated, regretting that the war in Afghanistan had resulted in a loss of $150 billion to Pakistan’s economy.
