US has really messed it up in Afghanistan, thunders Imran
Pakistan’s premier questions the American motive of Afghan invasion in the first place and then their subsequent atempts of seeking a political solution with the Taliban from a position of weakness
Prime Minister Imran Khan has said that the United States “really messed it up in Afghanistan” as he questioned the American motive of Afghan invasion in the first place and then their subsequent atempts of seeking a political solution with the Taliban from a position of weakness.
“I think the US has really messed it up in Afghanistan,” he said during an appearance on PBS Newshour, an American news programme.
Imran criticised the US for trying to “look for a military solution in Afghanistan, when there never was one.”
“People like me who kept saying that there’s no military solution, who know the history of Afghanistan, we were called - people like me were called anti-american. I was called Taliban Imran.”
He deplored that by the time the US realised 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 setlement much earlier, when there were as many as 150,000 Nato troops in Afghanistan.
“But once they had reduced the troops to barely 10,000, and then, when they gave an exit date, the Taliban thought they had won. And so, therefore, it was very difficult for now to get them to compromise,” he said.
When the interviewer asked whether he thought the Taliban resurgence was a positive development for Afghanistan, the prime minister reiterated that the only good outcome would be a political setlement, “which is inclusive.”
“Obviously, Taliban will be part of that government.”
Imran described the “worst-case scenario” as being one where Afghanistan descends into a civil war.
“From Pakistan’s point of view, that is the worst-case scenario, because we then … we face two scenarios, one of them being a refugee problem. Already, Pakistan is hosting over three million Afghan refugees. And what we fear is that a protracted civil war would bring more refugees. And our economic situation is not such that we can have another influx.”
Elaborating on the second problem, the premier expressed concerns that the fallout of a potential civil war across the border could “flow into Pakistan”. He said that the Taliban were ethnic Pashtuns and “if this [civil war and violence in Afghanistan] goes on, the Pashtuns on our side will be drawn into it. That … is the last thing we want.”
Asked about Pakistan’s alleged military, intelligence and financial support to Afghanistan, he replied: “I find this extremely unfair”.
He reminded the host that 70,000 Pakistanis had died in the atermath of the US war in Afghanistan, even when “Pakistan had nothing to do with what happened [in New York on September 11, 2001].”
At the time, Al Qaeda was based in Afghanistan and “there were no militant Taliban in Pakistan,” he said, adding that no Pakistan was involved in the atack on World Trade Centre.
“We had nothing to do with,” he repeated, regreting that the war in Afghanistan had resulted in a loss of $150 billion to Pakistan’s economy.
He was questioned about his controversial remarks on rape, which had drawn widespread criticism and earned him rebuke from civil society, political circles and on social media.
He had said in an interview to HBO: “If a woman is wearing very few clothes, it will have an impact on men unless they are robots. I mean it’s common sense. If you have a society where people haven’t seen that sort of thing it will have an impact on them.”
As the host revisited those remarks, Imran clarified his stance, saying that “anyone who commits rape, solely and solely, that person is responsible.”
“No mater whatever, how much ever a woman is provocative or whatever she wears, the person who commits rape, he is fully responsible. Never is the victim responsible,” he added.
The prime minister said that his comments in the HBO interview in June were taken out of context, saying that he was “simply talking about Pakistani society, where we are having a rise, a sharp rise in sex crimes.” “So my comments were in that context.”