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ISLAMABAD: Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan has said the international community needed to engage with the Afghan Taliban and “incentivize” them on issues such as women’s rights and on forming an inclusive government in neighboring Afghanistan.
Khan was speaking to CNN in Islamabad on Wednesday in his first interview with international media since the Taliban took control of Afghanistan last month amid the withdrawal of US troops.
The prime minister said the Taliban needed international aid to avoid a crisis in their country, which could be leveraged to push the group in the “right direction toward legitimacy,” warning that Afghanistan could not be controlled by outside forces.
“No puppet government in Afghanistan is supported by the people,” he said. “So rather than sitting here and thinking that we can control them, we should incentivize them. Because Afghanistan, this current government, clearly feels that without international aid and help, they will not be able to stop this crisis. So we should push them in the right direction.”
Khan gave the example of the withdrawal of the Soviet Union from Afghanistan in 1989, which resulted in a “bloodbath,” saying Pakistan was expecting a similar situation after US forces left.
“Our intelligence agencies told us that the Taliban would not be able to take over all of Afghanistan, and if they tried to take Afghanistan militarily, there would be a protracted civil war, which is what we were scared of because we are the ones who would suffer the most,” Khan said, adding that the world should “give them [Taliban] time” to form a legitimate government and make good on their promises.
When the Taliban was in power two decades ago, women had to cover themselves from head to toe. Those who broke the rules sometimes suffered humiliation and public beatings by the Taliban’s religious police.
While the new Taliban regime has promised to allow women more freedoms, there have been reports of women being barred from going to work, and some being beaten in recent weeks for protesting Taliban rule.
Universities have installed curtains inside classrooms to segregate men and women.
When asked about fears of the rollback of women’s and civil rights under the Taliban, Khan said: “It’s a mistake to think that someone from outside will give Afghan women rights. Afghan women are strong. Give them time. They will get their rights … Women should have the ability in a society to fulfill their potential in life.”
Speaking about Pakistan’s relations with the US and the fact that President Joe Biden had yet to telephone the Pakistani leader, Khan said: “I would imagine he’s very busy, but our relationship with the US is not just dependent on a phone call, it needs to be a multidimensional relationship.”
The US has repeatedly accused Pakistan of harboring militants and giving them safe havens, a claim Khan denied.
“What are these safe havens?” he asked. “The area of Pakistan along the border of Afghanistan had the heaviest surveillance by the United States drones ... surely they would have known if there were any safe havens?“