{"id":6764,"date":"2021-06-22T10:25:40","date_gmt":"2021-06-22T10:25:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/undergroundnews.co.uk\/?p=6764"},"modified":"2021-06-22T10:25:41","modified_gmt":"2021-06-22T10:25:41","slug":"pakistan-ready-to-be-us-partner-for-peace-in-afghanistan-writes-pm-imran-khan-in-washington-post-op-ed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/undergroundnews.co.uk\/?p=6764&lang=en","title":{"rendered":"Pakistan ready to be US partner for peace in Afghanistan, writes PM Imran Khan in Washington Post op-ed"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>Mishaal Arshad C.M. Underground News.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><strong>In Washington Post\u2019s op-ed, PM Imran Khan lays down Pakistan\u2019s priorities in Afghanistan.<\/strong><\/li><li><strong>Says\u00a0Pakistan has suffered too much from the wars in Afghanistan.<\/strong><\/li><li><strong>Adds Islamabad wants a peaceful Afghanistan which would be beneficial for the whole region.<\/strong><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan, in an opinion piece in the \u2018<strong>Washington Post\u2019,<\/strong> wrote that Pakistan is ready to be a US partner for peace in Afghanistan, but will not host US bases and avoid risking further conflict.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The prime minister highlighted the risks of giving military bases to the US, which according to him, will bring more destruction to the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Amid the withdrawal of foreign troops from Afghanistan, the US is looking for options to keep a close eye on the region and is talking to other countries for it. Pakistan, however, has told the US that it will not give its bases and reiterated Islamabad\u2019s commitment to Afghan peace.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cIf Pakistan were to agree to host US bases, from which to bomb Afghanistan, and an Afghan civil war ensued, Pakistan would be targeted for revenge by terrorists again. We simply cannot afford this. We have already paid too heavy a price,\u201d he stated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He said that Pakistan and the US have the same interest in that long-suffering country: a political settlement, stability, economic development and the denial of any haven for terrorists.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Making it clear that Pakistan has no favourities in Afghanistan, he stressed upon a negotiated settlement of the conflict and inclusion of the Afghan Taliban in any form of the government for its success.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cOur country has suffered so much from the wars in Afghanistan. More than 70,000 Pakistanis have been killed. While the United States provided $20 billion in aid, losses to the Pakistani economy have exceeded $150 billion,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Recalling his opposition to Pakistan joining the US-led war, the prime minister said the country was \u201ctargeted as a collaborator, leading to terrorism against our country from the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan and other groups\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cUS drone attacks, which I warned against, didn\u2019t win the war, but they did create hatred for Americans, swelling the ranks of terrorist groups against both our countries.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>PM Khan warned of the dangers of another civil war breaking out in the war-torn country in case a political settlement was not achieved.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThere are more than 3 million Afghan refugees in our country \u2014 if there is further civil war, instead of a political settlement, there will be many more refugees, destabilizing and further impoverishing the frontier areas on our border. Most of the Taliban are from the Pashtun ethnic group \u2014 and more than half the Pashtuns live on our side of the border. We are even now fencing this historically open border almost completely.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Arguing against giving military bases to the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) for action inside Afghanistan, he said if the United States, with the most powerful military machine in history, couldn\u2019t win the war from inside Afghanistan after 20 years, how would America do it from the bases in Pakistan?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The prime minister also mentioned the dividends the region would get after peace in Afghanistan and Pakistan\u2019s desire for increased trade and connectivity with Central Asia for an economic uplift.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThis is why we have done a lot of real diplomatic heavy lifting to bring the Taliban to the negotiating table, first with the Americans, and then with the Afghan government,\u201d the prime minister wrote, highlighting Pakistan\u2019s efforts for peace.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWe know that if the Taliban tries to declare a military victory, it will lead to endless bloodshed. We hope the Afghan government will also show more flexibility in the talks, and stop blaming Pakistan, as we are doing everything we can short of military action.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The premier added that all the neighbours of Afghanistan and regional powers want peace and stability in the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cFurther military action is futile. If we share this responsibility, Afghanistan, once synonymous with the \u2018Great Game\u2019 and regional rivalries, could instead emerge as a model of regional cooperation,\u201d he concluded.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Mishaal Arshad C.M. Underground News. In Washington Post\u2019s op-ed, PM Imran Khan lays down Pakistan\u2019s priorities in Afghanistan.&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":6765,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"csco_singular_sidebar":"","csco_page_header_type":"","csco_appearance_grid":"","csco_page_load_nextpost":"","csco_post_video_location":[],"csco_post_video_location_hash":"","csco_post_video_url":"","csco_post_video_bg_start_time":0,"csco_post_video_bg_end_time":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[76,71,38,34],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-6764","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-important-news","8":"category-latest-news","9":"category-pakistan","10":"category-world","11":"cs-entry","12":"cs-video-wrap"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/undergroundnews.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6764","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/undergroundnews.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/undergroundnews.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/undergroundnews.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/undergroundnews.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6764"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/undergroundnews.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6764\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6766,"href":"https:\/\/undergroundnews.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6764\/revisions\/6766"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/undergroundnews.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/6765"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/undergroundnews.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6764"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/undergroundnews.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6764"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/undergroundnews.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6764"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}