KARACHI: Prime Minister Imran Khan renewed Tuesday his resolve to help US in finding the peaceful solution to 18-year old Afghan war.
Prime minister made the remarks during his address to Pakistan Caucus at the Capitol Hill, reiterating Pakistan’s abiding interest in achieving peace and reconciliation in Afghanistan through political settlement.
PM Imran vowed to cooperate with the United States to achieve a political settlement with the Taliban to end the war in Afghanistan.
PM said: "The whole country is standing behind me, the Pakistan army and all security forces are behind me." He added, "our objective is same as US right now; to find a peaceful solution as quickly as possible in Afghanistan.”
PM said that his main objective of US visit was to make the people in US have better understanding of Pakistan, adding, "Pakistan is misunderstood here, specifically in the last 15 years when the war on terror was being fought in Afghanistan and on the borders of Pakistan."
He said: "We had 70000 people dying in this war on terror and we had billions and billions of dollars lost to our economy. We were fighting the US war on terror because Pakistan had nothing to do with 9/11. Al-Qaida was in Afghanistan and there was no militants in Pakistan, then."
It was the US war that Pakistan joined, he added and said unfortunately, it was partly the fault of previous Pakistani governments that did not apprise US exactly of the actual truth on ground.
He continued to say, "The part of the reason was that the governments were in control." During this phase, he said, the people like us were worried if we will survive it.
While the US expected us to do more and help US win this war, Pakistan was fighting for its own existence at that time, said Khan.
"It was very important that I met President Trump and Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, and explained to them that the way forward is: the relationship has to be based on mutual trust. And, trust means that I will be telling the truth," he said.
Khan said Pakistan is trying its best to get the Taliban back to the negotiation table to start this dialogue. So far, we have done pretty well, he said. "It is not going to be easy as the situation is quite complicated in Afghanistan but rest assured, we'll be trying our best," he promised.
"I hope from now on that our relations are on a different level. It is painful for us to see the mistrust between the two countries," the premier said.
“Pakistan has been an ally of US since right from CETO & CENTO in 1950's. We came on the same page when the Soviets invaded Afghanistan. The same situation came to the fore after Nine Eleven but in this phase, misunderstandings took place. I hope that once again our relationship has been restored on basis of common interests,” said PM Khan.
PM said that his government was committed to rebuild the relationship on the basis of mutual trust and mutual respect.
Upon invitation of Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee, Chairperson of the Congressional Pakistan Caucus, PM Khan attended a Reception by Senators & Members House of Representatives at the Capitol Hill.
Speaker of the US House of Representatives, Ms Nancy Pelosi and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy also joined the event.