NEW YORK: Pa
kistan refuses to be a “scapegoat” for Afgha
nistan’s bloodshed or to fight wars for others, Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi told the United Nations on Thursday.
Addressing the UN General Assembly, Abbasi did not explicitly criticize US President Donald Trump’s new strategy on Afgha
nistan but made clear his displeasure with the renewed onus on Pa
kistan.
“Having suffered and sacrificed so much due to our role in the global counter terrorism campaign, it is especially galling for Pa
kistan to be blamed for the military or political stalemate in Afgha
nistan,” Abbasi said.
“We are not prepared to be anyone’s scapegoat,” he said.
“What Pa
kistan is not prepared to do is to fight the Afghan war on Pa
kistan’s soil. Nor can we endorse any failed strategy that will prolong and intensify the suffering of the p
eople of Afgha
nistan and Pa
kistan and other regional countries,” he said.
Abbasi said that 27,000 Pa
kistanis have been killed by extremists since the launch of the US war on terror after the September 11, 2001 attacks.
He called for a priority on eliminating extremists, including from the Islamic State group and Al-Qaeda, in Afgha
nistan but ultima
tely a political solution with the Taliban.
US and Afghan officials have long accused Pa
kistan of playing a double game, with the powerful intelligence services — not the civilian government — maintaining ties with extremists.
US forces tracked down and killed Osama bin Laden in 2011 in Abb
ottabad, a popular resort for Pa
kistan’s military elite.
Trump, unveiling a new strategy last month, pledged to take a tougher line on Pa
kistan — making public what had long been more private US frustrations.
Trump has sent thousands more US troops into Afgha
nistan in a bid to defeat the Taliban, reversing his previous calls to end America’s longest-ever war.
Afghan President Ashraf Ghani in his own speech to the United Nations appealed to Pa
kistan for dialogue, saying that the neighbors can work together to eliminate extremism.
Analysts say that Islamabad’s role in Afgha
nistan is rooted in the security elite’s fixation on historic rival India, which has warm ties with the post-Taliban government in Afgha
nistan.
Abbasi, who took office last month after his predecessor Nawaz Sharif was disqualified from office over a corruption scandal, used his UN address to renew Pa
kistan’s condemnation of India’s rule in Kashmir, the Himalayan territory divided between the two nuclear powers.
Accusing India of “massive and indiscriminate force” in Kashmir, Abbasi urged an international investigation and warned of escalation on their military frontier, the Line of Control.
“Pa
kistan has acted with restraint. But if India does venture across the LoC, or acts upon its doctrine of limited war against Pa
kistan, it will evoke a strong and matching response,” he said.
He was referring to an Indian strategic doctrine, rarely discussed openly, of a limited military response on Pa
kistan that is intended to stop short of triggering a nuclear reprisal.
India accuses Islamabad of training, arming and infiltrating militants into Kashmir. India considered but ultimately decided not to strike Pa
kistan after a bloody 2008 assault on Mumbai, which was planned by Pa
kistan-based extremists.