ISI trained jihadists during the 1980s, says Pakistan PM
NEWYORK: Prime Minister Imran Khan said on Monday that Pakistan’s Inter-services Intelligence (ISI) was responsible for training jihadists back in the 1980s.
Speaking at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), the Pakistan PM said, “In the 1980s, when t he Soviets i nvaded Afghanistan, Pakistan, helped by the US, organised the resistance to the Soviets. The ISI trained militants who were invited from all over the Muslim world to do jihad against the Soviets.”
Khan added, “We created these militant groups to fight the Soviets... jihadis were heroes then. Come 1989, Soviets leave Afghanistan, the US packs up and leaves Afghanistan and we were left with these groups.”
Khan, who has repeatedly regretted Pakistan joining America’s war on terror, continued, “Then comes 9/11, and Pakistan again joins the US in the war on terror and now we are required to go after these groups as terrorists. They were indoctrinated that fighting foreign occupation is jihad, but now when the US arrived in Afghanistan, it was supposed to be terrorism.”
The Pakistan PM said because of Pakistan’s stance on the war of terror over the years, the country “took a real battering”.
He reiterated that Pakistan committed “one of the biggest blunders” by joining the US after the 9/11 attacks.
Khan also said he has urged Indian PM Narendra Modi to “reset” bilateral ties but found that “India is pushing us in the blacklist of the Financial Action Task Force to bankrupt us”.