Reason for Biden’s anger with Pakistan not Afghanistan but presidential election campaign: Rehman Malik
Newswire
Islamabad: Former Interior Minister Senator Rehman Malik has said that the reason behind US President Joi Biden’s anger with Pakistan is not Afghanistan but US Presidential campaign.
He said that Pakistani embassy in the United States was used for Trump’s election campaign, which has angered Biden. He revealed in an interview with a news channel that in the US presidential election, a Pakistani businessman used the Pakistani embassy in Washington as Trump’s election office and when President Joe Biden found out about it, he got annoyed.
He said that the Prime Minister and the Foreign Minister should write a letter to US President of US to clarify the position, and query the ambassador as who had allowed him to use the Pakistani embassy for Donald Trump’s election campaign. He said that the ice between the United States and Pakistan had not melted yet as if it had melted, Biden would have called Prime Minister by now.
The former Interior Minister said that Pakistan, while facing an allegation of prompting the Afghan Taliban to take over Kabul before an agreed date, is false and Indian propaganda. He questioned as how could one stop Taliban from entering Kabul once they were near their destination and moreover Afghan trained forces welcome them instead of resisting them whereas unfortunately, President Ashraf Ghani fled away with many of his cabinet ministers including his vice President Amrullah Saleh contrary to their tall claims of resistance and staying in Kabul to their last breath. The withdrawal of the American forces was in haste giving a clear way to Afghan Taliban to enter Kabul and make an interim government of their own will, he added. He stressed that in the given situation there was no fault of Pakistan and moreover USA neither had consulted Pakistan before invading nor about withdrawing its forces. He said that Pakistan cannot be blamed for the failure of the then Kabul government or faulty planning of the USA for Afghanistan. He said that since day one, Pakistan has been playing a very sincere role for peace in Afghanistan and it could manage to bring many Afghan Taliban factions to the table.
Rehman Malik further said that it is always Pakistan that has come forward to the rescue of the USA in bad situations although every time the US has stabbed Pakistan in the back. He said that just like post-Afghan war, US is targeting unreasonably and alleging Pakistan of harbouring terrorism. He said that US had stopped sending aid and managed Pakistan to place in FATF grey list and it is because of USA complaint with the help of India. It seems that all of it is because of Pakistan’s friendship with China and the CPEC, as China is potentially the next super economic power, he said.
He said that US has best chance to work with Pakistan to bring peace in Afghanistan instead of counterproductive blame game as Pakistan can play a great positive role. He said “I hope President Joe Biden takes this advice and initiative to halt Afghanistan from becoming a hub of international terrorists and let us hope the world does not see yet another 9/11 or any other similar act of terrorism. The solution of Afghanistan crisis lies in the joint strategy and efforts between Pakistan and USA.”.
Answering a question about PDM, Malik said that if the show cause notice was withdrawn, the PPP could return to the PDM. He said that currently Pakistan is facing many challenges and the people need a real relief from inflation and unemployment. He said that the dollar will go from 170 to 180 because we cannot break the promises made to the IMF and if the situation remains as it is, the government will not be able to function.
Senator Rehman Malik proposed formation of an International Reconciliation Commission (RCI) with its key members from USA, Pakistan, UK, China, Saudi Arabia, and Afghanistan to give a reconciliation plan to resolve the ongoing row between the stakeholders.
