New Delhi: The latest statement given by the Prime Minister of Pakistan brings Pakistan closure to China and increased distance from the US.
The premier expressed these views during an interview with Dr. Eric Li, the director of the advisory committee of the China Institute at Fudan University.
Imran Khan said, “The United States has always used Pakistan for its purposes. Whenever the US needed us, they established relations, and Pakistan became a frontline state and then abandoned it and slapped sanctions on us when its purposes were served,”
On Pak-US relations, Imran said, “There was a time when Pakistan had friendly relations with the US, and when Pakistan was no longer needed the US distanced itself from it.”
Later he continued, friendly relations between the US and Pakistan were restored and Pakistan became a friend of the United States. “The US helped us at that time, but as soon as the Soviet Union left Afghanistan, the United States imposed sanctions on Pakistan.”
After nine years, when 9/11 happened, US-Pakistan relations got better again. When the US failed in Afghanistan, Pakistan was blamed for the defeat. The PM said Pakistan has not maintained relations with the US as it has with China.
Commenting on Afghanistan, he said that the US did not study the history of the war-torn country: There is a saying that those who do not learn from history are condemned to repeat it. So anyone who understood the history of Afghanistan would never have done what the Americans did.
(_Vinayak)