Pakistan will no longer fight America’s war in Afghanistan, Prime Minister Imran Khan says, insisting that only a political solution can bring peace to the war-torn country.
Those who had been asking Pakistan to do more to support the US-led war effort wanted it to mediate between Afghan warlords and the government in Kabul, Khan told a group of students from Balochistan.
“We need peace in Afghanistan but Pakistan will not fight others’ war (in the neighboring country),” the prime minister told the students at his office on Friday.
A wrong impression had been created by the country’s leadership in the past that Pakistan would be harmed if it did not fight someone else’s war in Afghanistan, he alleged.
“I have been saying for past many years that war is no solution to Afghanistan’s problem and now it has also been realized by the US. “More than 40 per cent areas in Afghanistan are not under the control of the Afghan government.”
In an interview a day earlier, Khan expressed his desire for a proper relationship with the US — like Islamabad’s ties with China rather than the one “where Pakistan is treated like a hired gun”.
Speaking to The Washington Post, he said: “I would never want to have a relationship where Pakistan is treated like a hired gun — given money to fight someone else’s war. It not only cost us human lives, devastation of our tribal areas, but it also cost us our dignity.”
Khan also scorned dismissed US’ allegations that there were safe havens for terrorists in Pakistan, saying the security forces had briefed him on the matter and told him that they had asked Washington “time and time again” to point out where the sanctuaries were.
Peace in Afghanistan was in Pakistan’s interests, the premier said, promising that Islamabad would “try its best to put pressure on the Afghan Taliban” in order to bring them to the negotiating table.
