Imran Khan says US prefers India, “uses” Pakistan for settling Afghan crisis

Islamabad [Pakistan], August 12 (ANI): Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan has said that the United States views Pakistan as “useful” only for clearing the “mess” it has left behind in Afghanistan after 20 years of fighting and prefers India when it comes to forming a “strategic partnership”.

“I think the Americans have decided that India is a strategic partner. Maybe that’s why Pakistan is being treated differently. Pakistan is just considered to be useful only in the context of settling this mess,” the Prime Minister said during an interaction with the foreign media on Wednesday night, reported Dawn.

He also said that Pakistan’s closeness to China was another reason for the change in the attitude of the US. Pakistan is unhappy that Joe Biden has not spoken to Imran Khan since he assumed the US Presidency in January. Pakistan’s National Security Adviser Moeed Yusuf recently expressed disappointment over Biden’s reluctance to contact Khan despite considering Islamabad as an important country in some critical issues like Afghanistan.

However, the prime minister said he was not really “waiting” for a phone call from the US President. “I keep hearing that President Biden hasn’t called me. It’s his business. It’s not like I am waiting for any phone call,” he said while responding to a question. Earlier in July, Imran Khan said that the United States “really messed it up” in Afghanistan by initially looking for a military solution and then attempting to seek a political solution from a position of weakness.

Meanwhile, Khan has said the Taliban would not talk to the Afghanistan government as long as Asharaf Ghani remains the country’s president. Talking to foreign journalists in Islamabad, Imran Khan said a political settlement was looking difficult under current conditions.

“I tried to persuade the Taliban… three to four months back when they came here,” The News International daily quoted Imran Khan as saying. The situation in Afghanistan has been deteriorating badly as the Taliban has been looting people and killing civilians after capturing multiple areas from the government.

The Taliban escalated its offensive against the Afghan forces soon after the US forces started withdrawing from Afghanistan in large numbers after a peace deal was signed between Washington and the Taliban in February last year. (ANI)