KARACHI: Prime Minister Imran Khan has urged the international community to interact with Afghanistan’s new rulers, claiming that the Taliban leadership in the war-torn country has no option and that “no one can replace them right now.”
“Is there a chance that if the Taliban government is squeezed there could be a change for the better? No. So the only alternative we have right now is to work with them [Taliban] and incentivise them for what the world wants – inclusive government, human rights and women rights in particular,” said the premier in an exclusive interview with CNN’s Fareed Zakaria.
“And the flip side is that if they [Taliban] are abandoned and if thesesanctions stay there and the banking system has no liquidity left because of the sanctions, then the worry is that Afghanistan can go into chaos and a humanitarian crisis will occur.”
Due to the instability in the neighbouring country, Pakistan has two main challenges: refugees and terrorist strikes, according to Prime Minister Imran.
“From Pakistan’s point of view, we faced two problems. We already have three million Afghan refugees. There were three terrorist groups operating from Afghanistan into Pakistan,” he remarked.
According to the premier, when the Taliban took control of Kabul last year, a torrent of refugees arrived, with about 250,000 Afghans crossing into Pakistan, “among them, unfortunately, were terrorists.”
“There were these Pakistani Taliban which had conducted attacks inside Pakistan, there were the Baloch insurgents who were conducting attacks especially recently and then there was ISIL.
“So our best hope is that a stable Afghanistan will ensure peace and stability of Pakistan,” he said, adding “so therefore, it was in everyone’s interest that the situation in Afghanistan should not descend into chaos”.
He said sooner or later Taliban would have to be recognised.
“So now the world wants some guarantees before they recognise the Taliban. So how far the US is going to push the Taliban to actually conform them to what they expect them to do in terms of human rights.”
PM Imran claimed that the Taliban was a “strong ideological movement” that represented a culture that was foreign to western countries.
“So therefore, somewhere there has to be give and take. But, by not recognising them and freezing their accounts and the banking system, only people are going to suffer, and not the Taliban government because no one can replace them right now. So what is happening is that half of the Afghan population, about 20 million people are at a severe risk.”
Hunger, malnutrition, and food shortages have put half of Afghanistan’s people in jeopardy, according to Prime Minister Imran.
"People in US must take Afghan's precarious state into consideration,"
Prime Minister @ImranKhanPTI,
exclusive interview with @CNN's GPS host @FareedZakaria pic.twitter.com/R62xg8H7aj— Prime Minister's Office (@PakPMO) February 13, 2022
He claimed that the current scenario was already deteriorating into one of Afghanistan’s greatest humanitarian catastrophes.
“People in the United States must understand one thing that it is a question of almost 40 million Afghans and half of them are in a very precarious situation.
“There is hunger and the Afghan winter is extremely wicked, ruthless,” he said adding people in Afghanistan were facing winter and there were food shortages and malnutrition.
PM Imran claimed the US tactics in Afghanistan produced terrorists because of civilian losses caused by drone attacks when discussing the so-called War on Terror.
“I can tell you from the Pakistan’s example because we had 80,000 people dying after joining the US war on terror.
“We saw that as the war went on it produced more terrorists and I am convinced it was exactly the same to what happened in Afghanistan due to the night raids in Afghanistan, the drone attacks.”
"Pakistan bore the brunt of the War on Terror & lost over 80,000 lives"
Prime Minister @ImranKhanPTI,
exclusive interview with @CNN's GPS host @FareedZakaria pic.twitter.com/YKPp8jG7io— Prime Minister's Office (@PakPMO) February 13, 2022
“We watched what happened there. They were telling people in the United States that the drones were very accurate and they actually got the terrorists. Bombs exploding in villages, how they would only get the terrorists. So there was a lot of collateral damage and I am afraid the public in the United States does not really know the amount of collateral damage.
“We bore the brunt because what happened was, we were considered the collaborators of the US so all the revenge attacks were against the Pakistani soldiers and against the people of Pakistan. There were suicide attacks occurring all over the country and we lost 80,000 people.”
