Islamabad: Pakistani defence minister Khawaja Asif has once again admitted that terrorism exists in Pakistan and blamed this on his country’s participated in two wars in Afghanistan on the behest of the US.
In the past, I have spoken about what the US left us to face after battling two Afghan wars. It was a mistake on our part that we participated in them. The terrorism that exists in our country and the extremist ideology that exists in our brains today is only because we participated in those wars,” Asif said during an interview with The Current.
Asif has earlier been interviewed by Sky News where he had said: “Yes, we did the dirty work for the West. We supported, trained, and funded groups in the Afghan war. It was a mistake. We’re paying the price to this day.”
The Pakistani defence minister also accused the US of starting wars to earn profits by selling weapons.
When asked whether Pakistan is prepared for another war, Asif said: “We should always be prepared for a war. We have an enemy that cannot be trusted. Americans have been doing this for the last 100 years; they generate wars. The US has fought 260 wars so far, and China has fought 3. They (the US) still make money from that. The military industry complex is there; it’s an established industry. They have to fight wars for it.”
“Sometimes, they even lmake others fight, make money out of that war, and go home. America’s policies have devastated once-prosperous nations like Afghanistan, Syria, and Libya,” he added.
India and Pakistan were engaged in a four-day military conflict after the former launched Operation Sindoor in response to the April 22 terror strike in Pahalgam, Jammu and Kashmir that resulted in the deaths of 26 people, mostly tourists.
The two countries are still engaged in a military and diplomatic stand-off. While Pakistan has denied its involvement with terror outfits, Asif’s repeated statements regarding the presence of such groups on the country’s soil are certainly significant.
