Staff Report
ISLAMABAD: Former prime minister of Pakistan and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan said that having a good relationship with Afghanistan, regardless of any government in Kabul, “is inevitable for Pakistan.”
In an exclusive interview with the US broadcaster Voice of America (VOA), Imran Khan said, “Whatever government is in Afghanistan, Pakistan must have a good relationship with them.” He said that as the prime minister of Pakistan, he tried to keep up with the Ashraf Ghani-led Afghan government on good terms in order to get Afghanistan’s help in dealing with terrorism.
To a question about the PDM government’s failure to get assistance from Afghanistan against rising terrorism in the country, Khan said it was hurting that Foreign Minister of Pakistan Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari had spent almost all his time out of Pakistan but had not paid a single visit to Afghanistan.
Pakistan is “not in a position to launch another war on terror,” he added.
Imran Khan on relations with military leadership
While talking about his relations with Pakistan’s military leadership, Imran Khan said that the new military leadership had realized that the “experiment of regime change has failed.”
“I am sure amongst the new military leadership, there is a realization that this regime change experiment has gone wrong.”
Imran Khan stressed that the elected governments must have authority and responsibility, and a country’s “system fails to deliver if it is not the case.”
While responding to a question about his relationship with the military as prime minister, the PTI chief said that the military’s all policies in Pakistan depend on one individual.
“Military in Pakistan refers to one man, the army chief. So, the whole policy of the military and their dealing with the civilian government depends on the choice and personality of one man.”
The deposed premier said that the positive side of his relationship with the then-army chief, General Qamar Bajwa, was his government having the “organized strength of Pakistan Army to help us.”
He said that the effect of this relationship was seen in the form of the country’s successful response to COVID-19.
According to the deposed premier, Pakistan’s economy has gone into a tailspin, and the country is facing the worst economic and political crisis in history.
