US out to destroy Afghan economy after defeat, says Ijazul Haq

PESHAWAR: Pakistan Muslim League-Zia (PML-Z) chief Ijazul Haq said on Tuesday that after facing a crushing defeat in Afghanistan, the US was bent upon ruining the economy of the war-torn country.

Speaking at a news conference here, he said that freezing the assets of Afghanistan amounted to war crimes. He recalled the United Nations had earlier accepted that peace was restored during the Taliban government.

Ijazul Haq said that he had been in contact with the Afghan Taliban and they wanted to dispel the impression which had been created about them. He said the Afghan Taliban had dismissed the impression that they were attached to the banned Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). He said he had held a meeting with a delegation of the Afghan Taliban in June.

The Afghan Taliban peacefully formed a government in Afghanistan in the 1990s, the PML-Z chief said. He added that they had committed some mistakes, which created a wrong impression about them in the past but they have changed.

He said that once the Taliban announced amnesty, then all should trust them and should not be worried in view of the propaganda being carried out against them.

Ijazul Haq said the Afghan Taliban were not against women’s education. He said the US did not want the restoration of peace in Afghanistan.

“I recently told Prime Minister Imran Khan that the Taliban government should be recognised,” he said, adding that the prime minister should visit Kabul. He said that a committee comprising representatives from all Muslim countries should be formed to meet Afghan Taliban.