Don’t blame Pakistan for Afghan war outcome: PM Imran

Prime Minister Imran Khan has reiterated that a more realistic approach towards handling the Afghanistan situation would have been to hold talks with the Taliban much earlier in order to avoid the embarrassment of the collapse of the Afghan army and the Ashraf Ghani government in Afghanistan.

In an opinion piece for the Washington Post, the PM said he was surprised to see that the United States made no mention of Pakistan’s sacrifices as its ally in the war on terror during the recent Congressional hearings on Afghanistan.

“Instead,” he wrote, “Pakistan was blamed for United States’ loss.”

“Since 2001, I have repeatedly warned that the Afghan war was unwinnable. Given their history, Afghans would never accept a protracted foreign military presence, and no outsider, including Pakistan, could change this reality.”

Imran blamed the successive Pakistani governments after the 9/11 who sought to please the US instead of pointing out the blunder in adopting a “military-dominated approach” to resolve the Afghanistan crisis.

PM blasted former military ruler, retired General Pervez Musharraf for agreeing to every American demand after 9/11. “Those US asked Pakistan to target included groups trained jointly by the CIA and our intelligence agency, the ISI, to defeat the Soviets in Afghanistan in the 1980s. Back then, these Afghans were hailed as freedom fighters. President Ronald Reagan even entertained the mujahideen at the White House.”

“When the Soviets were defeated, the US left Afghanistan and sanctioned Pakistan, leaving behind over 4 million Afghan refugees in my country and bloody civil war in Afghanistan,” wrote Imran.

Fast forward to 9/11, the premier added, the US needed Pakistan again. “Musharraf offered Washington logistics and air bases, allowed CIA in Pakistan and even turned a blind eye to American drones bombing Pakistanis on our soil.”

PM went onto add: “For those people, the US was an “occupier” of Afghanistan just like the Soviets, deserving of the same treatment. As Pakistan was now America’s collaborator, we too were deemed guilty and were attacked.”

“This was made much worse by over 450 US drone strikes on our territory, making us the only country in history to be so bombed by an ally. These strikes caused immense civilian casualties, riling up anti-American sentiment further.”

“Between 2006 and 2015, nearly 50 militant groups declared jihad on the Pakistani state, conducting over 16,000 terrorist attacks on us. We suffered more than 80,000 casualties and lost over $150 billion in the economy. The conflict drove 3.5 million of our citizens from their homes.”

PM said the militants escaping from Pakistani counter-terrorism efforts entered Afghanistan and were then supported and financed by Indian and Afghan intelligence agencies, launching even more attacks against Pakistan.

“Pakistan had to fight for its survival,” PM stressed. “A former CIA station chief in Kabul wrote in 2009, Pakistan was “beginning to crack under the relentless pressure directly exerted by the US. Yet the United States continued to ask Pakistan to do more for the war in Afghanistan.”

“A year earlier, in 2008, I met then-Senators Joe Biden, John F. Kerry and Harry M. Reid (among others) and stressed the futility of continuing a military campaign in Afghanistan.

Turning his guns towards former president Asif Ali Zardari, the PM said: “President Asif Zardari, undoubtedly the most corrupt man to have led my country, told the Americans to continue targeting Pakistanis because ‘collateral damage worries you Americans.’ It does not worry me.”

“Nawaz Sharif, Pakistan’s next prime minister, was no different, wrote Imran and added, “While Pakistan mostly defeated the terrorist groups by 2016, the situation in Afghanistan continued to deteriorate, as Pakistan had warned.”

Explaining the difference, PM said, “Pakistan had a disciplined army and intelligence agency and both enjoyed popular support. In Afghanistan, the lack of legitimacy for an outsider’s protracted war was compounded by a corrupt and inept Afghan government, seen as a puppet regime without credibility, especially by rural Afghans.”

Tragically, instead of facing the reality, the Afghan and West blamed Pakistan. They accused Pakistan of providing safe havens to the Taliban and allowing its free movement across the border.

“If it had been so, would the US not have used some of the 450-plus drone strikes to target these supposed sanctuaries?” PM asked.

PM said Kabul rejected Pakistan’s offer of a joint border visibility mechanism, biometric border controls, fencing the border (which Pakistan later did on its own) and other measures.

The Afghan government intensified the “blame Pakistan” narrative, aided by Indian-run fake news networks.

“A more realistic approach would have been to negotiate with the Taliban much earlier, avoiding the embarrassment of the collapse of the Afghan army and the Ashraf Ghani government.”

Pakistan is not to blame for the fact that 300,000-plus well-trained and well-equipped Afghan security forces saw no reason to fight the lightly armed Taliban, said PM.

“I am convinced the right thing for the world now is to engage with the new Afghan government to ensure peace and stability. The international community will want to see the inclusion of major ethnic groups in government, respect for the rights of all Afghans and commitments that Afghan soil shall never again be used for terrorism against any country,” he added.