Want civilised relationship, no more ‘do more’ please, US told

imran khan news today
Want civilised relationship, no more ‘do more’ please, US told

WASHINGTON: Prime Minister Imran Khan in an interview to The New York Times about Pakistan’s planned future strategy once the United States leaves Afghanistan said that in the past, the US kept expecting more from Pakistan, while previous governments “tried to deliver what they were not capable of”.

Replying to a question related to Pakistan’s future relationship with the US after the withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan, Imran Khan said that Pakistan has always had a closer relationship with the United States than neighbouring India.

“After 9/11, Pakistan again opted to join the US war on terror. Now, after the US leaves Afghanistan, basically Pakistan would want a civilised relationship, which you have between nations, and we would like to improve our trading relationship with the US,” he said.

When asked what he meant by a “civilised” relationship, the premier said that Pakistan expects an “even-handed” relationship which, for instance, the US holds with Britain or India at the moment. He said that Pakistan and the US shared a rather “lopsided” relationship during the war on terror. “It was a lopsided relationship because (the) US felt that they were giving aid to Pakistan, they felt that Pakistan then had to do US’s bidding,” he said.

“And what Pakistan did in terms of trying to do the US bidding actually cost Pakistan a lot in human lives,” he said, adding that Pakistan’s participation in the war on terror claimed the lives of 70,000 Pakistanis together with a loss of over $150 billion due to the ensuing bombings and suicide attacks.

“The US kept expecting more from Pakistan. And unfortunately, Pakistani governments tried to deliver what they were not capable of,” he said, adding, “What we want in the future is a relationship based on trust and common objectives. That’s actually what we have right now with the US — I mean, our objectives in Afghanistan are exactly the same today.”

When questioned about whether Pakistan will be able to retain its strategic importance to the US once it pulls out of Afghanistan, the premier said that he has “not thought about it in that way”.

As for the future of the relations pertaining to military and security concerns between Pakistan and the US, Imran Khan said that he does not know of that at the moment either.

“Post the US withdrawal, I don’t know what sort of military relationship it will be. But right now, the relationship should be based on this common objective that there is a political solution in Afghanistan before the United States leaves because Pakistan doesn’t want a civil war, a bloody civil war in Afghanistan,” he said.

“And I’m sure neither does the US, after it leaves, wants the country going up in flames after spending, God knows, $1 or $2 trillion. So that’s a common objective,” he said.

imran khan news today
Want civilised relationship, no more ‘do more’ please, US told