PM Khan urges the world to encourage and support the new Taliban government in Afghanistan. He further warned that going in the opposite direction would result in severe consequences, not for Afghanistan, but for its neighbors as well.
Speaking at the 76th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), PM Khan warned of a looming humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan. He stated that according to the UN, half of the Afghan population is below the poverty line. If the world doesn’t take measures to stabilize Afghanistan, then the situation will worsen next year.
In this regard, PM Khan also gave dire warnings of increased terrorism as a result of a “chaotic and destabilized Afghanistan.”
“There will be severe repercussions everywhere if a destabilized, chaotic Afghanistan again becomes a safe haven for international terrorists, the reason why the US came to Afghanistan in the first place,” PM Khan stated.
Therefore, to prevent that from happening, PM Khan rallied the world to support the Taliban as it is the only option to stabilize Afghanistan. He then recalled promises made by the Taliban.
“I went to the US, I met the then Senator Biden, [..] – I tried to explain to them that there would not be any military solution, and political settlement was the way forward. No one understood then.”
One of the best part from PM Imran Khan’s #AbsolutelyBrilliant speech! pic.twitter.com/JzlH5CM4nc— Virk Shahzaib (@VirkSh786) September 25, 2021
Ever since their take over of Afghanistan, the Taliban made many promises. They promised to respect human rights, set up an inclusive government, and prevent terrorist groups from using their soil. They also announced an amnesty for their opponents.
As a result, PM Khan urged UNGA leaders to incentivize the Taliban to “walk this talk.” With this happening, it will be a win-win situation for everyone.
“If the world can incentivize them to go this direction, then after all this 20-year presence of the coalition forces in Afghanistan would not have been wasted,” he said. He also noted that it is a “critical time” for Afghanistan.
Read more: Recognizing Taliban will be a collective decision: PM Khan
‘We felt used’: PM Khan on Pakistan’s role in US war on terror
In the UNGA speech, PM Khan once again defended Pakistan. He asserted that Pakistan did not play a negative role in Afghanistan.
PM Khan said Pakistan was the only country apart from Afghanistan, that suffered the most after 9/11.
“80,000 Pakistanis died. Our economy lost US 150 billion dollars. There were 3.5 million [temporarily] internally displaced Pakistanis,” he said.
Prime Minister Imran Khan said the United States went wrong when it tried to force a military solution in Afghanistan.
“And if today, the world needs to know why the Taliban are back in power, all it has to do is to do a deep analysis of why a 300,000 strong well equipped Afghan army – gave up without a fight … and it is not because of Pakistan.”
Read more: Opinion: Forty years of Afghan Refugees: Effects on Pakistan & their repatriation
He asked the world body to recall when President Ronald Regan invited the mujahideen to the White House in 1983. PM Khan recalled the newspapers reported that he compared them to “the founding fathers of the United States. They were heroes.”
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However, in 1989, the Soviets left, followed by the Americans, abandoning Afghanistan. Pakistan was left to fend with five million Afghan refugees, Imran Khan said.
“We were left with sectarian militant groups which never existed before. But the worse cut of it was, that a year later Pakistan was sanctioned by the US. We felt used.”