ISLAMABAD – Answering a question regarding former US defence secretaryJames Mattis’ remark that he considered Pakistan to be the most dangerousamong all countries he had dealt with, Prime Minister Imran said he dothink James Mattis fully understands why Pakistan became radicalised.
Recalling history’s pages, he said in the 1980s, when the Soviets invadedAfghanistan, Pakistan, with US cooperation, organised the resistanceagainst Soviets.
He said Pakistani ISI trained Jihadist, who were invited from all over theMuslim world to do jihad against the Soviet Union. He said we created thesemilitant groups to fight the Soviets in the name of Jihad and they wereheroes then.
He said the United States abandoned Afghanistan in 1989 and we were leftwith these groups.
Imran Khan said then comes 9/11, and Pakistan again joins the US in the waron terror and now we are required to go after these groups as terrorists.
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They were indoctrinated that fighting foreign occupation is jihad but nowwhen the US arrived in Afghanistan, it was supposed to be terrorism.
The Prime Minister said Pakistan should have stayed neutral in the conflictand Pakistani government should not have pledged what they could notdeliver.
