Daily Times

Prime Minister Imran Khan has said that it is unfair to blame Pakistan for the setbacks suffered by US in Afghanistan.

“Islamabad suffered great losses when it joined Washington’s war on terror, and in the end the US still pinned the blame on Pakistan for its own setbacks in Afghanistan,” Prime Minister Imran Khan told RT in an exclusive interview. He said Pakistan took a serious hit after joining the US-led global campaign against terrorism. “Before that, Islamabad had been training the Mujahedeen fighters, who were funded by the American CIA to wage war against the Soviet Union in Afghanistan in the 1980s,” he maintained. “But as it was the US’ turn to invade Afghanistan, these groups turned against us,” he stated. “A decade later when the Americans come into Afghanistan, the same groups in Pakistan are supposed to say that now because the Americans are there, it is no longer Jihad – it is terrorism,” he said, while underscoring the contradiction in rhetoric.

PM says had Pakistan not joined US war after 9/11, it would not have been the ‘world’s most dangerous country’ today

The prime minister said Pakistan lost 70,000 lives and suffered a loss of over $100 billion to the economy in the war against terrorism. “And in the end, we were blamed for the Americans not succeeding in Afghanistan. I felt it was very unfair to Pakistan,” he lamented. “I strongly feel that Pakistan should have been neutral,” he continued. “Because by joining in [Afghan war], these groups turned against us,” he said. “Had we not participated in the American war after 9/11, we would not have been the world’s most dangerous country,” he added.

The complete interview will be aired today by the Russian TV channel.