If the United States provides bases for Afghanistan, Pakistan may become a target again: PM Imran Khan

Washington: Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan stated in an opinion piece published in a major US newspaper on Tuesday that Pakistan is ready to become Afghanistan’s peace partner with the United States, but will not allow the United States to establish military bases on its territory.

“We simply can’t afford it. We have paid too heavy a price,” the Pakistani leader wrote in the letter. Washington post Before U.S. President Joe Biden meets with senior Afghan leaders at the White House later this week.

“If Pakistan agrees to set up US bases and bomb Afghanistan from there, the Afghan civil war will follow, and Pakistan will once again become the target of terrorist retaliation,” he said.

U.S. officials said that Biden’s Friday talks with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and Afghan High Commission for National Reconciliation Abdullah Abdullah will discuss the issue of U.S. withdrawal because the Afghan army and the Taliban are spreading across the country. The fighting surged.

With the withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan, Prime Minister Imran Khan wrote: “We will avoid the risk of further conflict.”

“At the same time,” he added, “if the United States, which has the most powerful military machine in history, cannot win the war from within Afghanistan in 20 years, how will the United States do it from our country’s base?”

The Prime Minister said that Pakistan and the United States have the same interests in Afghanistan-political settlement, stability, economic development and refusal to provide any shelter for terrorists, and pointed out that Islamabad has made every effort to promote the peace process in Afghanistan.

“We oppose any military takeover of Afghanistan, which will only lead to decades of civil war, because the Taliban cannot win the entire country, but it must be included in any government to succeed.”

He said that in the past, Pakistan made a wrong choice between the warring parties in Afghanistan, but now Islamabad is not partial and will cooperate with any government trusted by the Afghan people.

“History has proven that Afghanistan can never be controlled from the outside.”

Pakistan suffered so much in the war in Afghanistan-more than 70,000 Pakistanis were killed, the prime minister said, adding that Pakistan’s economic losses have exceeded 150 billion U.S. dollars.

“After joining the efforts of the United States,” the Prime Minister said, “Pakistan became the target of collaborators, leading the Pakistani Taliban (TTP) and other groups to implement terrorism against our country.

“The U.S. drone strikes I warned about did not win the war, but they did create hatred for the Americans and expanded the ranks of terrorist organizations against our two countries.

“Although I have believed that Afghanistan has no military solution for many years, the United States has put pressure on Pakistan for the first time to send our army to the semi-autonomous tribal area bordering Afghanistan, falsely expecting it will end the rebellion. It does not, But it did move half of the population of the tribal area internally, with 1 million people in North Waziristan alone, causing billions of dollars in damage and destroying entire villages,” Khan added.

He said that Pakistan and the United States have the same interests in Afghanistan-negotiating peace, not civil war.

“We need to stabilize and end the terrorism against our two countries. We support an agreement that preserves the development gains made in Afghanistan over the past two decades. We hope that Central Asia’s economic development, increased trade and interconnectivity will boost Our economy. If there is further civil war, we will all be in vain.

“That’s why we have done a lot of real diplomatic tasks to bring the Taliban to the negotiating table, first with the Americans and then with the Afghan government,” the prime minister said.

He hopes that the Afghan government will also show greater flexibility in the talks and stop accusing Pakistan, because Pakistan is doing its best not to take military actions.

“This is why we participated in the recent’Troika’ joint statement with Russia, China and the United States, clearly declaring that any effort to forcibly establish a government in Kabul will be opposed by all of us and will deprive Afghanistan of what it takes. Opportunities for foreign aid needed,” pointed out that Afghanistan’s four neighbors and partners have expressed their views on what the political solution should look like.

Pakistan believes that promoting economic interconnection and regional trade is the key to lasting peace and security in Afghanistan. He added that further military operations are futile.

“If we share this responsibility, Afghanistan, which was once synonymous with the’Great Game’ and regional competition, may become a model of regional cooperation.”