Engage with Taliban

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan Tuesday berated the coalition government for issuing “irresponsible statements” against the Taliban-led Afghan administration and stressed cooperation with the neighbouring nation. “Ministers are issuing irresponsible statements that they are planning to attack Afghanistan; if the Afghan government stops cooperation with [Pakistan], then we will have a never-ending war on our hands,” Imran Khan said while addressing a seminar via video link from Lahore. Imran Khan addressed the criticism levelled at the PTI government for leading peace talks with the TTP and said his opponents should not “lie to the people”. He said that all stakeholders had sat down and were informed about the need for talks with the TTP and the plan to resettle their members. “A military operation can be a part of the overall peace settlement but it is never successful on its own.” Imran also criticised Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah’s “irresponsible” statements about Pakistan taking action against TTP hideouts in Afghanistan. He warned that if the new Afghan government decided to stop cooperating with Pakistan, it could lead to a “never-endingR21; war against terrorism. The PTI chief said the coalition government was not focusing on talks with its Afghan counterpart and that Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari’s first foreign trip should have been to the war-torn neighbouring country. The former prime minister said military operations “never” bear fruit and they are part of peace agreements, as he reiterated that the government should engage with the Taliban to avoid terror activities on Pakistani soil. “We had a golden opportunity when America left Afghanistan; we tried to better our ties with the Ashraf Ghani government as best as we could and decided not to intervene in Afghan affairs,” he said. But once the Taliban took over, Khan also kept engaging with them, and he said that “Pakistan helped evacuate foreigners from Afghanistan”. Imran also questioned why recent incidents at the Pak-Afghan border were not taken up with the Afghan government, reiterating that another war against terrorism would become a curse for the country if relations with Afghanistan deteriorated. He said that the federal government would need to tread carefully and seek KP’s input on the overall terror situation. He said that Pakistan should not seek help from the United States as it would lead to internal discord among locals if drone attacks were carried out. Slamming the R20;imported government” for the rising terror incidents, he said that during his tenure, the National Security Committee (NSC) had divided to support the tribal areas, but the current regime did not focus on them. “These people [current rulers] are focusing on ending their corruption cases. They have not focused on the economy,” he said, claiming that due to the government’s policies, there has been a rise in terrorism. The PTI chief said that controlling the borders is the federal government’s responsibility and noted that “I had already said that when you can’t control your economy, you cannot control terrorism”. During his address, Imran – whose party is in power in KP – said it was wrong to expect the provincial police to confront the rising wave of terrorism, adding that the terrorists were much more heavily equipped. “To expect the police to face them (terrorists) with the kind of weapons they have is not possible. Rangers are present in Karachi and terrorism there is not at the level of KP. There is no comparison between them.” He said terrorists operating in KP were R20;battle-hardened” with access to the latest weaponry abandoned by the US when it pulled out of Afghanistan in 2021. Imran said it would be wrong to assume that the KP police could confront such terrorists, at least until the federal government did not pay full attention to the matter. The PTI chief said terrorism was a very important issue for the country and could have greater consequences if not properly addressed, “especially at a time when our economic conditions can’t bear it at all”. The PTI chief alleged that the federal government had withheld funds for the tribal districts and did not pay attention to the resettlement of 30,000-40,000 TTP members from Afghanistan. Imran said the time immediately after the US withdrawal from Afghanistan was a “golden opportunity” to solve the TTP issue since the new Afghan government was “pro-Pakistan” and could exert influence on the TTP.