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ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan has emphasised that inclusive political settlement would be the best solution for Afghanistan, saying that Pakistan would remain helpful in the peace process.
In an interview with US media outlet Public Broadcasting Service (PBS), the prime minister said the Afghan government that includes all sorts of different factions will be the best outcome. He said there is no other outcome as the military solution has failed.
“So, the Taliban sit down with the other side and they form an inclusive government. This is the best outcome; there is no other outcome because the military solution has failed,” he said.
He said from Pakistan’s point of view, a protracted civil war in Afghanistan will be a worst case scenario. He said Pakistan is already hosting over three million Afghan refugees and we fear the civil war will bring more refugees to Pakistan. Our economic situation is not such that we can have another influx.
When asked about his assessment of the situation in Afghanistan as US completes the withdrawal of its troops from the war-torn country, the prime minister said the US really messed up in Afghanistan.
“I think the US has really messed it up in Afghanistan,” he responded. The US for two decades was trying to force a military solution, he said, adding that “the reason why we are in this position now is because the military solution failed.”
“Now, what choices have we got? The best choice is that somehow we have a political settlement in Afghanistan where it is, as I repeat, an inclusive government.”
He said another worry is that the civil war will flow into Pakistan, because the Taliban are basically ethnic Pashtuns and those on our side will be drawn into it. He said this is last thing we want.
The only good outcome for Afghanistan, the prime minister said, was a political settlement which is inclusive, so they form some sort of a government that includes all sorts of different factions there.
“The worst situation in Afghanistan would be if there’s a civil war and a protracted civil war,” he said, adding that in the worst-case scenario Pakistan was facing a ‘refugee problem.’
Reaffirming support to the Afghan peace process, the Prime Minister made it clear that Pakistan want to be a partner in peace but not in conflict.
Pakistan, he added, does have three million Afghan refugees, but the Taliban are not some military outfit. “They are normal civilians. And if there are some (non-civilians) in these camps, how is Pakistan supposed to hunt these people down? How can you call them sanctuaries?
When asked about his refusal to allow the US to have any sort of bases in Pakistan to support counterinsurgency in Afghanistan, Imran Khan said, “When a country loses 70,000 people and is bankrupted by this war on terror, when we joined the US after 9/11.”
:we do not have the capacity to have any more fighting within our border or any terrorism within our country, because, when we were in the height of that war on terror, which Pakistan joined, there were suicide bombs taking place all over the country.”
“We do not want to be is part of any conflict. Now, if there’s a conflict going on in Afghanistan and there are bases in Pakistan, we then become targets. We will then become part of a conflict which we were in the last 15 years, and we do not want.”
He said Pakistan’s position is very straightforward and now it’s up to the people of Afghanistan to choose what government they want. “We want to help and we have helped getting the Taliban to talk to the US. We have done our bit.”
Asked about the kind of relations he wanted to have with the U.S., the prime minister said, “The last relationship was transactional. Pakistan was more like a hired gun. The US says that we paid you, we gave you aid, and that’s why you were fighting this so-called war on terror.
