In a free-wheeling interview with the German magazine Der Spiegel,Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khanlink his views on the upcoming USelections, apprehensions vis-a-vis India’s greater involvement inAfghanistan and Islamabad’s warm ties with Beijing, among several otherissues.
Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khanlink said he would like the nextAmerican president to afford Islamabad “even-handed treatment” on par witharch-rival India, while weighing in on the outcome of the US presidentialelection on 3 November during an interview with the German magazine DerSpiegel.
“What we really want from the US is even-handed treatment with respect toIndia, especially with the dispute in Kashmir. The region is a hotspot, itcould flare up at any time. That’s why we expect the US, as the strongestcountry in the world, to be even handed, whoever becomes president”, the68-year-old Khan told the magazine.
PM due in Gilgit today to attend Independence Day parade; review dam worklink
Trump’s ties with Pakistan didn’t really get off on the right footing, withthe 74-year-old American president having blasted Islamabad on 1 January2018 for giving the US nothing but “lies and deceit” in return for billionsof dollars of financial assistance since 2001. However, the Trumpadministration reportedly recalibrated its ties with Islamabad last yearafter the US entered formal negotiations with the Taliban in Afghanistan.
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While Khan deftly parried a question about which candidate he backed as thenext American president, the former cricket world cup winningcaptain-turned-politician did concede that the incumbent US presidentlink was “unpredictable”, despite theDemocratic Party challenger being the frontrunner in the polls.
Khan also opined that America’s premise about India being a potentialcounterweight to China was “flawed”.
In addition, the Pakistani PM blasted the current Indian government forbeing inspired by the “Nazis”, claiming that there are similarities betweenthe seminal texts of the German Nazis and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh(RSS), the latter are considered the ideological fountainhead of India’sgoverning Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). – Sputnik
