| Translate This News In |
|---|
Prime Minister Imran Khan expressed remorse on Tuesday for Pakistan’s choice to join America’s 20-year-long “war on terror” in Afghanistan, calling it a “self-inflicted wound” and a move made for financial gain rather than public good.
Khan, who has long been a critic of Pakistan’s involvement in the nearly two-decade-old conflict, claimed to have been close to decision-makers in 2001, when then-military ruler Gen Pervez Musharraf decided to join the ‘war on terror.’
“As a result, I’m well-informed about the elements that influenced my decision. The residents of Pakistan, on the other hand, were overlooked.” Khan delivered the following comments while speaking with members of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Instead, the concerns were the same as they were in the 1980s, when we were involved in the Afghan jihad “He was referring to the Soviet-Afghan war, which was nicknamed “holy war” at the time.
“We are the ones who are in charge. We let [others] utilise us, compromised our country’s reputation for aid, and established a foreign policy that was against the public interest [and devised] for financial benefit.”
He described Pakistan’s ‘war on terror’ as a “self-inflicted wound,” adding that “We can’t blame anyone else for the war’s outcome.”
Khan has previously estimated that Pakistan’s 20-year conflict has cost the country over 80,000 lives and $100 billion in economic losses.
Regarding the current situation in Afghanistan, Khan described it as a “huge outrage” that a man-made crisis was being manufactured “when it is clear that unfreezing Afghanistan’s accounts and liquidity could avert the problem.”
He stated that resolving the situation in Afghanistan was critical for Pakistan because it was its neighbour and might be severely impacted by the issue.
In these trying times, he stated, Pakistan will continue to assist Afghanistan.
He went on to say that regardless of how one feels about the Taliban’s growth in Afghanistan, the world should focus on the challenges that its 40 million people are facing.
Khan also praised and complimented the Foreign Office for holding the Organization of Islamic Cooperation session on such short notice, saying that the response to the summit demonstrated that Pakistan’s image had improved internationally.
“The attendance at the summit and the positive response to Pakistan’s attitude demonstrate that the country’s image has improved,” the prime minister said, crediting his government for the “improvement in Pakistan’s image.”
The prime minister also advised ministry officers to change their focus away from geopolitics and toward geoeconomics, asserting that Pakistan can become a great country by focusing on self-belief.
