'US views Pakistan useful only to settle 'mess' left behind in Afghanistan': Imran Khan

Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan accused the United States of viewing Islamabad as beneficial with regards to dealing with the “mess” it is leaving behind in Afghanistan after at least 20 years of war. As the Taliban has continued to gain ground in the war-torn country, Washington has been pressing Pakistan to use its influence over the insurgents to broker an elusive peace deal as negotiations between the militants and the Afghan government are at a stalemate. Meanwhile, the Taliban has increased its violence in the country.

Addressing the foreign journalists, Khan said, “Pakistan is just considered only to be useful in the context of somehow settling this mess which has been left behind after 20 years of trying to find a military solution when there was not one.”

The US President Joe Biden administration has declared that it would complete the American troop withdrawal by August 31, which is 20 years after toppling the iron-fist rule of the Taliban in 2001. However, the momentous step of US forces returning home has prompted the Taliban to control more territory in Afghanistan than at any point in two decades. Afghan government officials including the vice president have accused Pakistan of providing crucial assistance and harbouring the insurgents. 

Pakistan Prime Minister said that the country will not take sides in Afghanistan but also said, “I think that the Americans have decided that India is their strategic partner now, and I think that's why there's a different way of treating Pakistan now.” Khan also noted that a political settlement in Afghanistan was looking difficult under current conditions. He reportedly informed that he tried to convince the Taliban leaders when the group visited his country for negotiations. 

"The condition is that as long as Ashraf Ghani is there, we (Taliban) are not going to talk to the Afghan government," Khan said, quoting the Taliban leaders as telling him.

Some Afghans blame neighbouring Pakistan

As per the Associated Press report, as the Taliban is tightening its grip on the country, several Afghans have blamed Pakistan for the insurgents’ success indicating the use of Pakistani territory by the militants. Even though analysts reportedly say that Pakistan’s leverage is overestimated, it does allow the Taliban leadership on its territory. Pakistani hospitals have even treated the wounded insurgents and their children are in school in Pakistan and some among them even own property. As per the report, some of the Pakistani officials have deemed the extremists as “the new, civilized Taliban.”

Ismail Khan, a prominent US-allied warlord who is reportedly trying to defend his territory of Herat from the Taliban, said “I can say openly to Afghans that this war, it isn’t between Taliban and the Afghan Government. It is Pakistan’s war against the Afghan nation. The Taliban are their resource and are working as a servant.”

IMAGE: AP/PTI