Not all victims of geopolitical manipulation and associated “third force” terrorism in their nations are blind to their actual origin.
As Pakistan and India careen toward a rapidly escalating confrontation between the two nuclear weapons powers, in the wake of the April 22 terrorist attack that killed 26 in Pahalgam in Indian-controlled Kashmir, Pakistani Defense Minister Khawaja Asif made explosive comments in an interview with Sky News anchor Yalda Hakim on April 24, responding to her assertion that Pakistan has historically been “supporting, backing and funding” terrorist organizations:
“We have been doing this dirty work for the U.S.A. for about three decades and for the West, including Britain. That was a mistake and we suffered for that. If we had not joined the war against the Soviet Union and the war after 9/11, Pakistan’s track record was unimpeachable.”
Asif, who has been Defense Minister since April 2022, elaborated on his charge that terror groups in Pakistan were “used as proxies by the U.S.A.” “When we were fighting the war on their side in the ’80s against the Soviet Union, all these terrorists of today, they were wining and dining in Washington. Then came 9/11. Again the same situation was created. I think our government then made a mistake.”
Asif insisted that Pakistan had nothing to do with the latest killing in Pahalgam, asserting that Pakistan has been harmed by terrorism, just as India has. Later in the interview he fell back into the British geopolitical trap by blaming India for the Pahalgam incident, suggesting that they had “staged it” to “create some sort of crisis in the region, particularly for us.”
Asif gave a follow-up interview on these matters to RT on April 26, in which he elaborated on how Pakistan had gotten caught up in the British-American wars against Afghanistan, and then post 9/11.
“The introduction of jihad, which was invented by the West, changed the country’s ethos [of Pakistan] and led to its current issues. The whole ethos of the society was changed to support the jihad.” During the Afghan war, Islamabad “supplied all sorts of help” to the U.S. Later, post 9/11 attacks, Pakistan again “joined the coalition.” “From our soil, all the supplies used to go to us and all of the facilities,” he said. “Both these wars, in my humble opinion, were not our wars…. We suffered a lot and the United States abandoned us around ‘89 or ‘90. [They] went away and we were left high and dry,” he said.
