Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaf (PTI) chief Imran Khan. — File Photo by AFP

WASHINGTON: PTI leader Imran Khan urged the United States on Sunday to stop drone attacks in Pakistan because they also killed many innocent people.

In an interview to CNN’s Fareed Zakaria, Mr Khan noted that each bomb that killed terrorists also killed many people who might be related to the terrorists but were not involved in terrorism.

And this ‘collateral damage’ “creates more Jihadis than it kills”, he argued.

Mr Khan also urged cessation of all military activities in the region if the United States wanted to engage the Taliban in meaningful peace talks. “One cannot talk and be at war at the same time,” he said, shaking his head at the policies of the Obama and Bush administrations, which depended heavily on drone strikes.

CNN introduced Mr Khan as “the most popular political leader” in Pakistan today who could be the country’s future prime minister and that’s why, it argued, his views on the drone strikes were important.