US has always used Pakistan, says Pak PM Imran Khan

TIL Desk/World/Islamabad/ Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan has said that the US has always used his country for its purposes. “Whenever the US needed us, they established relations, and Pakistan became a frontline state, and then abandoned it and slapped sanctions on us when its purposes were served,” he said.

The Prime Minister made the remarks during an interview with Eric Li, the director of the advisory committee of the China Institute at Fudan University. On Pakistan-US relations, he said there was a time when Pakistan had friendly relations with the US; and when Pakistan was no longer needed, the US distanced itself from it.

Later, he continued, friendly relations between the US and Pakistan were restored and Islamabad became a friend of Washington.  “The US helped us at that time, but as soon as the Soviet Union left Afghanistan, the US imposed sanctions on Pakistan.”

He said that after nine years, when 9/11 happened, US-Pakistan relations got better again. When the US failed in Afghanistan, Pakistan was blamed for the defeat. Khan said Pakistan has not maintained relations with the US as it has with China, the report said.