“Islamabad will never be Washington’s partner in the war,” the Pakistani prime minister said in response to what US President Joe Biden’s counter-terrorism strategy for attacking militants in Afghanistan has been called from regional bases.
Pakistani media quoted Imran Khan as saying in an interview with the French newspaper Le Figaro on Tuesday night.
“We want the recognition of Taliban rule in Afghanistan to be a collective process,” he said, referring to developments in Afghanistan and the Pakistani government’s view of how to deal with the Taliban.
The Prime Minister of Pakistan informed about his country’s relations with other neighbors and countries around Afghanistan regarding the official activity with the Taliban and added: “If Pakistan is the first person to recognize the Taliban government organization, it will face excessive international pressure.” We are trying to turn our country’s economy around.
Asked by Le Figaro whether Islamabad wanted to join US President Joe Biden’s counter-terrorism strategy to attack militants in Afghanistan from regional bases and whether Pakistan would allow US military aircraft, he said. “We do not want international terrorism to operate in Afghanistan,” he said.
Imran Khan stressed: “Since 2001, 80,000 people have lost their lives (in the war on terror) in Pakistan, so we will be partners in peace with the United States, not in war.”
He added that when the Taliban took power in Afghanistan in the 1990s, they were able to restore security, and at that time Pakistani commercial and supply trucks could operate freely, so trade from Central Asia through Afghanistan to the ocean. India is in their favor.
“If the terrorists operate on Afghan soil, the Taliban will be harmed, so it is in their interest to stop international terrorism,” he said. .
In recent days, Imran Khan also criticized the actions of Washington in Afghanistan and the need to change its attitude towards its military actions abroad, saying in an interview with Cyanan that the US war on terror has had the opposite effect and has led to the growth of terrorism worldwide.
