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Pakistan Defence Minister Khawaja Asif strongly criticized the US and alleged that it had treated Pakistan worse than toilet paper. He said that the US exploited Pakistan for its own strategic interests. Pakistan did a grave mistake by aligning with Washington DC’s stance on Afghanistan after 1999, he said and added that the consequences would be felt for years.
Asif’s criticism comes at a time when Pakistan has been attempting to woo US President Donald Trump with a Nobel Peace Prize nomination and mining rights for rare earth minerals in Balochistan. Speaking in Pakistan’s Parliament, Asif admitted that Pakistan refuses to accept its terror links, which is a mistake committed by two dictators in the past.
Pakistan had been a security partner for the US for several years, during the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan and then during US war on terror. However, the relationship collapsed when American forces found Osama bin Laden in Abbottabad. In the recent past, Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif tried restoring the relations with the US by signing an MoU regarding supply of critical minerals and rare earth elements to the US, available in Balochistan. These minerals could be used in defence and clean-energy transition by the US. Sharif and Pakistan Army chief Field Marshal Asim Munir were hosted by Trump at White House last year, after the US pledged to work with Pakistan to develop its massive oil reserves. A US firm has shown interest to invest $500 mn in Pakistani minerals. In the face of a severe financial crisis, Pakistan is trying to get close to the US to get some funding.
Last week, the US State Department listed Pakistan’s Reko Diq mine as one of America’s crucial foreign critical minerals investments. The US also promised to create an estimated 6,000 jobs in the US and 7,500 jobs in Balochistan, Pakistan, for the Pakistan nationals.
The Defence minister said that Pakistan realigned with Washington post 2001 in the US-led war against Afghanistan. At this time, Pakistan went against the Talibans and the country faced prolonged violence and economic strain, even after the US withdrew from the region. Referring to Pakistan former PMs Zia-ul-Haq and Pervez Musharraf, Asif told the Parliament that two former military dictators joined the war in Afghanistan not for the sake of Islam but to appease a superpower. He said that terrorism is a blowback of the mistakes committed by the dictators in the past and the losses suffered by Pakistan can never be compensated, he said.
