‘Americans were never clear on what they were trying to achieve in Afghanistan’
Islamabad: Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan while criticising the US over its 20-year war in Afghanistan has said that Washington had no clear aims in the war-torn country, The News reported.
In an interview with Dr Eric Li, Director of the Advisory Committee of the China Institute of Fudan University, Khan said the US mission in Afghanistan should have been over once they killed former Al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden.
“So what they were doing after that, none of the Americans knew.”
“Anyone who understood the history of Afghanistan would never have done what the Americans did,” he added.
The Pakistan premier said he was against the military solution to Afghanistan from day one.
“They (Americans) were never clear on what they were trying to achieve in Afghanistan. Was it nation-building, democracy, or the emancipation of Afghan women? They had no clear aims,” Khan added.
When the aim of a mission is unclear, it ultimately leads to “failure”, as in the case of the US invasion of Afghanistan for the “war on terror”, he added, the report said.
Imran Khan said the entire US mission was based on a “false premise”. But now, he said, the Americans are unable to differentiate between the general population and the Taliban, thus forcing the country towards a potential humanitarian crisis.
“If there is chaos in Afghanistan and the Taliban government gets weaker, it cannot take on international terrorist organisations,” he said.