Prime Minister Imran Khan sought to cast Pakistan as the victim of American ungratefulness and an international double standard in his address to the United Nations General Assembly on Friday. In a prerecorded speech aired during the evening, the Pakistani prime minister touched on a range of topics that included climate change, global Islamophobia, and “the plunder of the developing world by their corrupt elites” — the latter of which he likened to what the East India Company did to India.
In global community to strengthen and stabilise the Taliban government in Afghanistan “for the sake of the people of Afghanistan. There is only one way to go. We must strengthen and stabilise the current government in Afghanistan,” he said. Imran Khan stated that there are two paths available to the international community when it comes to Taliban-ruled Afghanistan. Either, the world can ‘neglect’ the nation or ‘stabilise’ its current government, he suggested. “For the current situation in Afghanistan, for some reason, Pakistan has been blamed for the turn of events, by politicians in the United States and some politicians in Europe,” Khan said. “From this platform, I want them all to know, the country that suffered the most, apart from Afghanistan, was Pakistan when we joined the US war on terror after 9/11.” Khan said Pakistan’s aid to the U.S. cost 80,000 Pakistani lives and caused internal strife and dissent directed at the state, all while the U.S. conducted drone attacks. He said Pakistan desires peace, but it is India’s responsibility to meaningfully engage.
