Imran Khan said Islamabad did not take sides in Afghanistan (File)
Islamabad:
Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan accused the United States of viewing his country as useful only in the context of the “mess” it leaves behind after 20 years of fighting in Afghanistan.
Washington is urging Pakistan to use its influence over the Taliban to negotiate an elusive peace deal as negotiations between the insurgents and the Afghan government have stalled and violence in Afghanistan has escalated sharply.
“Pakistan is only considered useful in the context of somehow solving this mess that has been left behind after 20 years of trying to find a military solution when there was none,” Khan told foreign journalists at his home in Islamabad.
The United States will withdraw its military by August 31, 20 years after the overthrow of the Taliban government in 2001. But as the United States leaves, the Taliban control more territory today than ever before.
Kabul and several Western governments say Pakistan has survived the war through its support for the insurgents.
The accusation of supporting the Taliban, despite being a US ally, has long been a sore point between Washington and Islamabad. Pakistan denies supporting the Taliban.
Khan said Islamabad is not taking sides in Afghanistan.
“I think the Americans have decided that India is their strategic partner now, and I think that’s why there is now a different way to treat Pakistan,” Khan said.
A political settlement in Afghanistan looked difficult under the current circumstances, Khan added.
He said he was trying to convince the Taliban leaders when they visited Pakistan to reach a settlement.
“On the condition that as long as Ashraf Ghani is there, we (Taliban) will not talk to the Afghan government,” Khan said, citing the Taliban leaders who told him.
Peace talks between the Taliban, who view Ghani and his government as US puppets, and a team of Kabul-nominated Afghan negotiators started last September but have made no substantial progress.
Representatives from a number of countries, including the United States, are currently in talks with both sides in the Qatari capital, Doha, in a last-ditch attempt at a ceasefire.
US forces have continued to use airstrikes to support Afghan forces against the Taliban advance, but it remains unclear whether such support will continue beyond August 31.
Khan said Pakistan had made it “very clear” that it does not want US military bases in Pakistan after US troops leave Afghanistan.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NewsMadura staff and has been published from a syndicated feed.)
