WASHINGTON, Pakistan is ready to be a partner for peace in Afghanistan with the United States, but will not allow US military bases on its soil, Prime Minister Imran Khan has said in an opinion piece published in a leading American newspaper on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe simply cannot afford this. We have already paid too heavy a price,\u201d the Pakistani leader wrote in The Washington Post ahead of US President Joe Biden meeting with the top Afghan leaders at the White House later this week.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf Pakistan were to agree to host U.S. bases, from which to bomb Afghanistan, and an Afghan civil war ensued, Pakistan would be targeted for revenge by terrorists again,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
American officials have said Biden\u2019s talks Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and the Chairman of Afghanistan\u2019s High Council for National Reconciliation Abdullah Abdullah on Friday will discuss U.S. troop withdrawal amid a surge in fighting between Afghan forces and the Taliban across the country.<\/p>\n
As U.S. troops withdraw from Afghanistan, Prime Minister Imran Khan wrote, \u201cwe will avoid risking further conflict,\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cMeanwhile,\u201d he added, \u201cif the United States, with the most powerful military machine in history, couldn\u2019t win the war from inside Afghanistan after 20 years, how would America do it from bases in our country?\u201d<\/p>\n
Pakistan and the US have the same interest in Afghanistan \u2014 a political settlement, stability, economic development and the denial of any haven for terrorists, Prime Minister Khan said, pointing out that Islamabad had made every effort to facilitate the Afghan peace process.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe oppose any military takeover of Afghanistan, which will lead only to decades of civil war, as the Taliban cannot win over the whole of the country, and yet must be included in any government for it to succeed.\u201d<\/p>\n
In the past, he said, Pakistan made a mistake by choosing between warring Afghan parties, but now Islamabad has no favourites and will work with any government that enjoys the confidence of the Afghan people.<\/p>\n
\u201cHistory proves that Afghanistan can never be controlled from the outside.\u201d<\/p>\n
Pakistan had suffered so much from the wars in Afghanistan \u2014 more than 70,000 Pakistanis killed, the prime minister said, adding that the losses to Pakistani economy have exceeded $150 billion.<\/p>\n
\u201cAfter joining the U.S. effort,\u201d the prime minister said, \u201cPakistan was targeted as a collaborator, leading to terrorism against our country from the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and other groups.<\/p>\n
\u201cU.S. drone attacks, which I warned against, didn\u2019t win the war, but they did create hatred for Americans, swelling the ranks of terrorist groups against both our countries.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhile I argued for years that there was no military solution in Afghanistan, the United States pressured Pakistan for the very first time to send our troops into the semiautonomous tribal areas bordering Afghanistan, in the false expectation that it would end the insurgency. It didn\u2019t, but it did internally displace half the population of the tribal areas, 1 million people in North Waziristan alone, with billions of dollars of damage done and whole villages destroyed,\u201d PM Khan added.<\/p>\n
The interests of Pakistan and the U.S. in Afghanistan were the same \u2014 a negotiated peace, not civil war, he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe need stability and an end to terrorism aimed at both our countries. We support an agreement that preserves the development gains made in Afghanistan in the past two decades. And we want economic development, and increased trade and connectivity in Central Asia, to lift our economy. We will all go down the drain if there is further civil war.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is why we have done a lot of real diplomatic heavy lifting to bring the Taliban to the negotiating table, first with the Americans, and then with the Afghan government,\u201d the prime minister said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe know that if the Taliban try to declare a military victory, it will lead to endless bloodshed. We hope the Afghan government will also show more flexibility in the talks, and stop blaming Pakistan, as we are doing everything we can short of military action.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is also why we were part of the recent \u2018Extended Troika\u2019 joint statements, along with Russia, China and the United States, unambiguously declaring that any effort to impose a government by force in Kabul would be opposed by us all, and also would deprive Afghanistan access to the foreign assistance it will need,\u201d noting that four of Afghanistan\u2019s neighbours and partners have spoken with one voice on what a political settlement should look like.<\/p>\n
Pakistan believes that promoting economic connectivity and regional trade was the key to lasting peace and security in Afghanistan, he said, adding further military action was futile.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf we share this responsibility, Afghanistan, once synonymous with the \u2018Great Game\u2019 and regional rivalries, could instead emerge as a model of regional cooperation.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
WASHINGTON, Pakistan is ready to be a partner for peace in Afghanistan with the United States, but will not allow US military bases on its soil, Prime Minister Imran Khan has said in an opinion piece published in a leading American newspaper on Tuesday. \u201cWe […]<\/p>\n
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