WASHINGTON: Prime Minister Imran Khan urged the United States on Sunday to recognise the Taliban government in Kabul, reminding American policy makers that “there’s no alternative to the Taliban”.

In an interview with CNN’s Fareed Zakaria, the prime minister refused to believe the Western media’s claims on Xinjiang and urged the West to show the same indignation over atrocities in India-held Kashmir as they do over Xinjiang.

The interview followed significant developments in Washington where President Joe Biden announced on Friday that he would unfreeze about $7bn of Afghan assets but would keep half of it for the victims of the Sept 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

The interviewer also referred to the impact of the Afghan conflict on Pakistan, noting that the country had already taken in almost two million refugees. “How bad are things on the ground and what could happen in the next weeks or months if there is no change in the situation?” he asked.

West urged to show same indignation over atrocities in held Kashmir as they do over Xinjiang

“People in the US must understand one thing. Disliking the Taliban government is one thing but it’s a question of almost 40 million Afghans. Half of them are in a very precarious situation. There’s hunger. The Afghan winter is ruthless. There are food shortages, malnutrition. The next couple of months could be even worse. It’s already developing into one of the worst humanitarian crises.”

Asked if it’s easy to deal with the Taliban, the prime minister said: “What are the choices? Is there an alternative to Taliban right now? No, there isn’t. If the Taliban are squeezed (harder), could there be a change for the better? No.”

The only option, Mr Khan said, was to work with the Taliban and incentivise them to what the world wants such as an inclusive government and respect for human rights, especially those of women.

He argued that if the rest of the world continued to ignore Afghans and did not lift the sanctions, the Afghan economy would collapse, leading to an unprecedented humanitarian crisis.

The collapse in Afghanistan, he said, would bring more refugees to Pakistan and could lead to increased terrorist activities in the country.

The prime minister said that three terrorist groups — the Pakistani Taliban, Baloch separatists and militant Islamic State group — were already using the Afghan territory for launching attacks in Pakistan.

“Our best hope is that a stable Afghanistan will ensure stability and peace in Pakistan too. But if Afghanistan goes into chaos, it will affect all, not just Pakistan,” he said, adding that it was terrorism that caused the United States to invade Afghanistan 20 years ago.

“Sooner or later, the Taliban would have to be recognised,” said the prime minister when asked if Pakistan wanted the United States to recognise the Taliban government.

The interviewer reminded the prime minister that Pakistan was one of the largest Muslim countries and yet it was ignoring the cultural genocide of Muslims in Xinjiang.

“Our ambassador Moin-ul-Haq went to Xinjiang and his observations (show that) the picture is not what was being portrayed in the Western media,” Mr Kahn said.

“But more important, from our point of view, is Kashmir, a territory disputed between Pakistan and India over the last 75 years. About 100,000 Kashmiris have died since August 5, 2019, when India revoked the status of Kashmir unilaterally,” he said.

“There are extra judicial killings, rights clamp down there. About 800,000 Indian troops are deployed in the Kashmir valley. But I find it exceedingly difficult that there is hardly any indignation over what’s happening in Kashmir.”

Asked if the treatment of Muslims in Kashmir was worse than the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, the prime minister said: “There’s absolutely no comparison. What’s happening in Kashmir is criminal.”

Published in Dawn, February 14th, 2022