The Pakistani prime minister says his country is talking to various members of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan from a position of power.
According to the Pak Sahafat news agency, Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan told the Middle East I news agency that the TTP is made up of 50 groups and he is trying to reconcile with elements who want to talk: “Islamabad is trying to talk to elements in the TTP who can be compromised with because the government is talking to them from a position of power. I have always believed that all militancy ends with the use of the negotiating table, as happened in Northern Ireland and the Army of the Republic of Ireland.”
He added: We know that we must now talk to those who are compromising and persuade them to give up their weapons and live like great citizens. In the war on terror, Pakistan has suffered many casualties and 80,000 Pakistanis have been killed, and the country’s economy has suffered severely.
The Prime Minister of Pakistan also said: The Afghan Taliban has assured Islamabad that the Pakistani Taliban will not carry out attacks against us from Afghanistan. He accused Indian intelligence of supporting the attacks in the former government in Kabul.
Emphasis on the need for global cooperation with Afghanistan
The Prime Minister of Pakistan also acknowledged: Events in Afghanistan are still evolving and people like us still do not know where they will end up. The US withdrawal from the region will create a vacuum. Afghanistan is a trade corridor that connects Pakistan to other Asian countries, which is why it is so important.
Imran Khan continued: This is not an American campaign against China. At present, the issue is about relations and economic competition. This is exactly what we are looking for. The Taliban have people among them who have sacrificed their lives. These people now want to be part of the Afghan government.
The Prime Minister of Pakistan also said: However, the government in Afghanistan is seeking international recognition. So it wants to have an inclusive government. It talks about human rights and does not want its territory to be used for terrorism. This is a very important and sensitive stage in Afghanistan and the world must cooperate with this country.
He emphasized: The United States must “gather itself” and deliver a package of aid to Afghanistan, otherwise it will face the collapse of a country that will become a haven for ISIS.
It is very important for Pakistan that Washington addresses this challenge because my country, where tens of thousands of people have been killed in US-led “war on terror” conflicts, will once again pay a heavy price.
Khan said: This is a really critical time, and the United States needs to come together because the American people are in a state of shock. They envisioned some kind of democracy, nation-building, or liberated women, and suddenly realized that the Taliban had returned. There is a lot of anger and shock and surprise. Unless the United States takes the lead, we are concerned about the chaos in Afghanistan that we will be most affected by.
On the twentieth anniversary of the October 7, 2001, US-led invasion of Afghanistan to oust the Taliban following the 9/11 attacks in New York and Washington, D.C: The United States has no choice but to do whatever it can to support a stable government in Afghanistan, because the Taliban is the only option to fight ISIS in the region – and to prevent the emergence of extremist elements inside.
He emphasized: The world must engage with Afghanistan because if it ousts the country, there are extremists in the Taliban movement and it can easily return to the Taliban before 2000, and that would be a disaster. The Taliban are still on the US sanctions list, effectively barring the group from accessing more than $ 9 billion in Afghan assets. With half the population below the poverty line and 75 percent of the national budget dependent on foreign aid, Taliban sanctions will soon lead to a humanitarian catastrophe.
Referring to the civil war after the withdrawal of the Soviet Union from Afghanistan, he said: If they leave Afghanistan like this, my concern is that Afghanistan could easily go back to 1989, when the Soviet Union and the United States left and more than 200,000 Afghans were killed in chaos.
Imran Khan has not yet spoken to Biden
The Prime Minister of Pakistan also said about the talks with US President Joe Biden: No such conversation has taken place yet. It depends on Biden himself. America is a superpower.
In response to whether he was surprised by the fact that there was no dialogue between him and Biden, he said: Security officials from the two countries have held talks. The Pakistani foreign minister met with his American counterpart, but we have not had a conversation yet, but we are in touch.
Imran Khan referred to his 2008 trip to the United States and meeting with Biden, John Kerry and Harry Reid, and said he had warned them that they were creating problems for themselves in Afghanistan.
Imran Khan added: I warned these three people that a military solution in Afghanistan would not work and they did not listen to me. A few years later, then-Pakistani Army Chief Ashfaq Parviz Kiani sent a similar message to former US President Barack Obama. But unfortunately, they were led by their own generals. And do you know what the generals always say, give us more strength and time.
Pakistan was expecting a bloodbath in Afghanistan
Imran Khan also spoke about the current situation in Afghanistan and the rise of the Taliban in the country on August 15 this year: When the Taliban took control of Afghanistan just a few months ago; Islamabad breathed a sigh of relief as it expected worse and a bloodbath.
The Prime Minister of Pakistan continued his interview with Middle East I: We expected more bloodshed in Afghanistan, but we breathed a sigh of relief when the peaceful transfer of power took place. Of course, we felt guilty about it. The Afghan army, with about 300,000 troops, surrendered to the Taliban without a fight. Well, we did not tell them to surrender.
Khan said the Taliban should be given a chance: They have good professions; they have no other choice. If we boycott them, what will we do next? The best way is to encourage them to sit down and talk. But if you force them, I imagine that the nature of the people is such that they retreat, and that will backfire.
He said that there are clearly different currents within the movement and that there is a lack of clear leadership on some issues.
China is an emerging power
He said China is an emerging power that is entering a power vacuum created by the United States and has stood by Pakistan, one of the main recipients of Chinese investment as part of the Beijing Belt and Road project, in the darkest days of recent years. Which country that came to the rescue? It was China that helped us. You will always remember those who help you in difficult situations.
The center of nuclear war in the world
A general ceasefire has been in place in Kashmir since the agreement was reached in February, but tensions remain high and reports of a firefight have been released in recent weeks. The two countries have had three wars since independence in 1947.
On the instability of the current situation, Khan said: “If you look at the focus of the war, it is probably the current nuclear flashpoint in the world of Pakistan and India, because nowhere else is there a situation where two nuclear-armed countries have three pre-nuclear weapons.”
He acknowledged, however, that in the early months of his presidency, 2019 was a tense and dangerous time: anything can happen when two nuclear-armed countries get into a situation like this.