Pakistan’s defence minister Khawaja Asif, in what was one of his biggest admissions, has accused the United States of using Islamabad for its strategic interests and then treating it as “worse than toilet paper.”
Speaking in Parliament, Asif said Pakistan’s decision to realign with Washington after 1999, especially in connection with Afghanistan, caused long-term harm to the country, media reports said.
He described Islamabad’s role in the two Afghan wars as “a mistake,” adding that the terrorism Pakistan faces today is a consequence of those past decisions.
Khawaja Asif’s big remark against the US
He said Pakistan paid a heavy price for rebuilding ties with the United States after 1999, particularly in the period following the September 11, 2001, attacks.
Asif held former military rulers Zia-ul-Haq and Pervez Musharraf responsible for pushing Pakistan into foreign conflicts. He said the country continued to suffer the impact of those decisions even after its allies had moved on.
Addressing lawmakers, he said Islamabad was treated “worse than toilet paper, used for a purpose and then thrown away”.
Asif added that Pakistan once again sided with Washington during the US-led war in Afghanistan after 2001, and in doing so, took a position against the Taliban.
He said that although the US later left the region, Pakistan was left facing years of violence, rising extremism and economic difficulties.
HT was not able to independently verify the video.
‘Terrorism is blowback of the mistakes’: Khawaja Asif
The defence minister also disputed the claim that Pakistan’s role in the Afghan wars was based on religious commitment.
He told lawmakers that “two former military dictators (Zia-ul-Haq and Pervez Musharraf) had joined the war in Afghanistan, not for the sake of Islam, but to appease a superpower.”
“Terrorism is a blowback of the mistakes committed by dictators in the past,” he added.
He also said that even the country’s education system was adjusted to support those wars, and said the effects of those ideological changes are still visible today.
