Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan has said Islamabad wants a proper relationship with Washington, instead of the one where Pakistan is treated like a ‘hired gun’.

“I would never want to have a relationship where Pakistan is treated like a hired gun – given money to fight someone else’s war,” the prime minister told Washington Post in an interview. “We should never put ourselves in this position again. It not only cost us human lives, devastation of our tribal areas, but it also cost us our dignity,” he asserted. “We would like a proper relationship with the US,” he said. “For instance, our relationship with China is not one-dimensional. It’s a trade relationship between two countries. We want a similar relationship with the US,” he elaborated.

To a question about ‘media war’ with President Trump, Imran said, “It was not really a Twitter war, it was just setting the record right. The exchange was about being blamed for deeply flawed US policies – the military approach to Afghanistan.”

To a question about US believing that Taliban leaders are living in Pakistan, Imran said, “When I came into power, I got a complete briefing from the security forces. They said that we have time and time again asked the Americans to tell us where the sanctuaries are, and we will go after them. There are no sanctuaries in Pakistan.” Asked further, he added, “Where are these people? Our border between Pakistan and Afghanistan has the greatest amount of surveillance. The US has satellites and drones. These people crossing would be seen.”

To a question about President Trump’s letter asking for Pakistan’s assistance in bringing the Taliban to the negotiating table, the prime minister said, “Peace in Afghanistan is in Pakistan’s interest. We will do everything.” When asked if Pakistan will put pressure on the Taliban to get them to talks, he said, “Putting pressure on the Taliban is easier said than done. Bear in mind that about 40 percent of Afghanistan is now out of the government’s hands.”

“I talked for years about how there was no military solution in Afghanistan, and they called me ‘Taliban Khan’. If you did not agree with the US policy, you were [thought to be] anti-American. Now I’m happy that everyone realizes there is only a political solution .?.?. From Pakistan’s point of view, we do not want the Americans to leave Afghanistan in a hurry like they did in 1989. The last thing we want is to have chaos in Afghanistan. There should be a settlement this time. In 1989, what happened was the Taliban emerged out of the chaos,” the prime minister maintained.

On US accusations that Pakistan was harboring leaders of the Taliban, Imran said, “I have never understood these accusations. Pakistan had nothing to do with 9/11. Al-Qaeda was in Afghanistan. No Pakistani was involved. And yet Pakistan was asked to participate in the US war. There were a lot of people in Pakistan who opposed it, including me. In the 1980s, we collaborated with the US in the Soviet jihad there. Then, in 1989, when the Soviets packed up and left, the US did too. Pakistan was left with militant groups and 4 million Afghan refugees. If we had stayed neutral after 9/11, I reckon we would have saved ourselves from the devastation that took place afterward. By becoming the front-line state for the US in the war on terror, this country went through hell. Over 80,000 people died in the war, and estimates are that over $150 billion was lost in the economy. Investors wouldn’t come, nor would sports teams. Pakistan was known as the most dangerous place in the world.”

To a question about US drone attacks, the prime minister said, “Who would not be against drone attacks? Who would allow a drone attack in their country when, with one attack, you kill one terrorist and 10 friends and neighbours? Has there ever been a case of a country being bombed by its own ally? Of course, I objected to it. All it did was create more anti-Americanism.”

To a question about US raid in Abbottabad, the prime minister said, “It wasn’t killing Osama bin Laden – it was not trusting Pakistan. It was humiliating that we were losing our soldiers and civilians and [suffering terrorist] bomb attacks because we were participating in the US war, and then our ally did not trust us to kill bin Laden. They should have tipped off Pakistan. We did not know whether we were a friend or a foe.”

To a question about US believing that the past Pakistani governments lied to them, the prime minister said, “They’ve been misinformed. Is it possible that the greatest military machine in the history of mankind – 150,000 NATO troops with the best equipment and over $1 trillion – are they saying that just a few thousand Pakistani insurgents are the reason they didn’t win in Afghanistan? The United States expected Pakistan to take on the Afghan Taliban. But the Afghan Taliban were not hitting Pakistan. Tehrik-e-Taliban and al-Qaeda were hitting us.”

To a question about arrest of Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) chief Khadim Hussain Rizvi, Imran said, “It’s a straightforward thing. I had gone on television and warned everyone that we will stand by the Supreme Court verdict. If you don’t stand by what the Supreme Court says, then there’s no state left. The head of the TLP then passed a death sentence on the Supreme Court judges and kept saying that they should be killed.”

To a question about weak financial position of Pakistan, the prime minister said, “In 2013, when the previous government came to power, the current account deficit was $2.5 billion. When we came to power in 2018, it was $19 billion – a huge deficit, especially in a country with falling exports. The immediate thing has been stabilizing the economy.” “We raised some money from friendly countries, but we are talking to the IMF. We do not want to have conditions imposed on us which would cause more unemployment and inflation,” he said. “In the last 30 years, we’ve had 16 IMF programs. If we go with the IMF, we will make sure this is the last time. Pakistan has never made the structural changes that are needed. Now we have embarked on structural reforms. Already exports are picking up, remittances are going up. We need higher exports, and we are curbing our imports. Already, we have investors coming into Pakistan.”

“My struggle is all about fighting corruption. Corruption you fight from the top, then you build strong state institutions,” Imran said to a question. “Corruption goes into megaprojects which have mega-kickbacks. When your political leadership makes money, it cannot park the money in the country because it will be visible. [Past leaders] took that money out of the country, which means the country ends up getting short of foreign exchange. Once your leadership starts making money, it goes right down to every level,” he added.

To a question about peace efforts with India, the prime minister said, “The ruling party has an anti-Muslim, anti-Pakistan approach. They rebuffed all my overtures.”

To a question about India wanting prosecution of perpetrators of the 2008 Mumbai bombing, the prime minister said, “We also want something done about the bombers of Mumbai. I have asked our government to find out the status of the case. Resolving that case is in our interest because it was an act of terrorism. I have opened a visa-free peace corridor with India called Kartarpur so that Indian Sikhs can visit a holy shrine in Pakistan. Let’s hope that after the election is over, we can again resume talks with India.”

Published in Daily Times, December 8^th 2018.