Islamabad: Pakistan’s Defense Minister Khawaja Asif has made one of his strongest admissions yet, claiming that the country allowed itself to be used by the United States and then discarded once its strategic value faded.
Speaking in Parliament, Asif described Pakistan's alignment with Washington as a grave mistake that weakened the country and left it facing long-term instability. He described the pursuit of US backing as a grave miscalculation whose consequences Pakistan continues to bear decades later.
The defense minister said Pakistan's decision to side with the United States after 1999, particularly during the Afghanistan conflict, proved deeply damaging. According to him, Pakistan was drawn into wars that were never truly its own, resulting in security, economic and social crises that continue to haunt the nation.
Asif rejected the long-standing claim that Pakistan's involvement in Afghanistan was driven by religious obligation. He said the idea of "jihad" was deliberately promoted to mobilize people under a false narrative, a strategy that ultimately fuelled extremism and internal violence across Pakistan.
Asif said the costs of realigning with the US after 1999, particularly following the September 11, 2001, attacks, were devastating. He accused late military rulers Zia-ul-Haq and Pervez Musharraf of entangling Pakistan in external wars, leaving the country to absorb the fallout long after its allies moved on.
Using unusually blunt language, Asif told lawmakers that Pakistan was treated “worse than toilet paper”, used for a purpose and then thrown away.
Referring to the post-2001 period, he said Pakistan turned against the Taliban to support the US-led war on terror, only for Washington to eventually withdraw while Pakistan remained mired in violence, radicalisation and economic strain. “The losses we suffered can never be compensated,” Asif said.
|
Trump repeats India-Pakistan ceasefire claims US President Donald Trump reiterated his claim of stopping eight wars" since assuming the presidency, including a potential "nuclear conflict" between India and Pakistan. This time, the president claimed that as many as "10 jets were shot down" during the India-Pakistan hostilities. Speaking to Fox News, Trump said that a nuclear war could have broken out had he not intervened. "Like India and Pakistan — it would have been a nuclear war in my opinion. They were really going at it," he said. “You know, the Prime Minister of Pakistan said, ‘President Trump has saved at least 10 million lives ... he got us to stop firing.’" He repeated his claims of using tariffs to strong-arm countries into ending wars. |
