On Thursday, Prime Minister Imran Khan addressed a ceremony in Islamabad, where he stated that previous Pakistani leadership was wrong to support the US-led war on terror in Afghanistan post the 9/11 attacks
. Pakistan had no involvement in the 9/11 attacks, the premier said. It joined the war under pressure and the consequences that followed were inevitable.
“We made a mistake by joining someone else’s war, we had nothing to do with the 9/11 attacks,” the premier stated.
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The United States involved Afghans during the 80’s war, where they glorified jihad and called them “mujahideen”, however, after 9/11, it called the same people terrorists and started a war against them, said Imran Khan. Pakistan should have never gotten involved in a foreign conflict in exchange for benefits, and Pakistan needs to learn that “there are is no free lunch,” he added.
We have to learn from our mistakes and make our country stand on its own feet. “Pakistan has the highest potential out of all the countries, Allah has blessed Pakistan with everything but it undersells itself,” the premier expressed. “The day we (Pakistan) gain confidence, we can compete with any nation out there,” he added.
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Earlier in his address, Imran Khan stated that his government is building two dams after 50 years, earlier we had Tarbela and Mangla after which no dams were built. Pakistan had one of the highest hydro-electricity potentials, which could have been met if dams were built in the country from time to time. Currently, “Pakistan is producing electricity at the highest rate in the region,” the premier added. He said his government is trying its best to bring appropriate reforms to lower the electricity prices.
A nation in order to succeed must have a long-term plan, short-term planning and initiatives to win elections only end up hurting the nation even further, this trend has to end, the premier stated.
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Biden to review US-Taliban agreement
The Biden administration says it will review last year’s US-Taliban agreement under which American forces are to leave Afghanistan by May 2021 in exchange for counter-terrorism guarantees.
Pakistan played a key role in facilitating the start of reconciliation talks between warring Afghan parties that led to the peace agreement.
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According to a White House statement, Biden’s newly appointed National Security Advisor, Jake Sullivan, informed his Afghan counterpart Hamdullah Mohib about the “United States’ intention to review” the deal in a phone call on Friday.
Sullivan said that the review would assess “whether the Taliban was living up to its commitments to cut ties with terrorist groups, to reduce violence in Afghanistan, and to engage in meaningful negotiations with the Afghan government and other stakeholders.”
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