ISLAMABAD (Dispatches) – Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan says the United States is responsible to find a political settlement to the war in Afghanistan before withdraws from the country
Khan was speaking in an interview to U.S. news platform Axios that was aired late on Sunday.
“The Americans, before they leave, there must be a settlement,” he said, referring to a September 11 deadline set by the U.S. government for its troops to withdraw from Pakistan’s northwestern neighbor.
“A political settlement in Afghanistan would mean a sort of coalition government. A government from the Taliban side and the other side. There is no other solution.”
The U.S. withdrawal is part of a 2020 agreement between Washington and the Taliban, which continues to fight Afghan government forces across the country.
In the interview on Sunday, Khan said he feared that a “civil war” could follow the planned U.S. troop withdrawal.
“In case the Taliban go for an all-out victory, there is going to be an incredible amount of bloodshed and, let me tell you, the country that is going to suffer the most after Afghanistan is going to be Pakistan,” he said.
Khan also ruled out the possibility of Pakistan allowing its territory to be used for U.S. military bases.
“There is no way we are going to allow any bases, any sort of action from Pakistani territory into Afghanistan,” he said. “Absolutely not.”
Former Afghan president Hamid Karzai emphasized in an interview Sunday that the U.S. came to Afghanistan to fight extremism and bring stability and is now leaving nearly 20 years later having failed at both.
“The international community came here 20 years ago with this clear objective of fighting extremism and bringing stability ... but extremism is at the highest point today. So, they have failed,” he said during an interview with AP.
“We recognize as Afghans all our failures, but what about the bigger forces and powers who came here for exactly that purpose? Where are they leaving us now?” he asked and answered, “In total disgrace and disaster.”
“We will be better off without their military presence,” Karzai further emphasized. “I think we should defend our own country and look after our own lives. ... Their presence (has given us) what we have now. ... We don’t want to continue with this misery and indignity that we are facing. It is better for Afghanistan that they leave.”
In the latest development, Afghan government forces have retaken territories captured by the Taliban in the northern parts of the war-torn country as the nation’s top leaders are set to travel to Washington for talks with U.S. officials.
In an operation by “government and public uprising forces,” Bangi and Khwaja Ghar districts in the northern Takhar province were recaptured from Taliban militants, Afghanistan’s Defense Ministry announced in a statement on Monday.
“The districts were cleared of Taliban this morning,” said the official statement, pointing out that the operation was launched late Sunday night with aerial support from the country’s Air Force. “The Taliban escaped from the district after suffering heavy casualties.”