Pakistan won鈥檛 take military action against Afghan Taliban if they take over 鈥� PM Khan聽

A photo released on October 13, 2019 shows Pakistan's Prime Minister Imran Khan attending a press conference in Tehran. (AFP/File)
Short Url
  • Says Pakistan will only recognize government that is chosen by Afghan people
  • Hopes Pakistan and US can fix 鈥渓opsided鈥� relationship of the past

ISLAMABAD: Pakistani prime minister Imran Khan said in an interview published on Friday that if the Taliban took over Afghanistan by force, the country would not take military action against the insurgent group.

Khan was speaking to the New York Times via video call about the way forward for Pakistan in light of US forces leaving Afghanistan by September 11 this year. 

鈥淟et me assure you, we will do everything except use military action against the Taliban,鈥� Khan replied when asked what Pakistan would do if the Taliban took over Afghanistan by force. 鈥淚 mean, we will do everything up to that. All sections of our society have decided that Pakistan will take no military action.鈥�

鈥淣ow, we are fencing it, and almost 90 percent of the border, we鈥檝e fenced now,鈥� Khan added. 鈥淲hat if [the] Taliban try to take over Afghanistan through [the] military? Then we will seal the border, because now we can, because we have fenced our border, which was previously [open], because Pakistan does not want to get into, number one, conflict, secondly, we do not want another influx of refugees.鈥�

Asked if Pakistan would recognize the Taliban if they carried out a full military takeover in Afghanistan, Khan said:

鈥淧akistan will only recognize a government which is chosen by the people of Afghanistan, whichever government they choose.鈥�

He said after the US withdrawal, he wished that Pakistan and the US could fix their 鈥渓opsided鈥� equation of the past. 

鈥淲hat we want in the future is a relationship based on trust and common objectives,鈥� he said. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 actually what we have right now with the US.鈥�