Defense Minister Khawaja Asif acknowledged Pakistan’s support for terrorist organizations on behalf of the US and UK.
Pakistani Defense Minister Khawaja Asif criticized the West, particularly the US, for its contribution to regional security issues. In a Sky News interview released on Friday, when asked about Pakistan’s support for terrorism, Asif admitted that Islamabad carried out “the dirty work” for Western powers for decades.
Speaking to the British broadcaster on Thursday, Asif stated, “We have been doing this dirty work for the United States for about three decades, you know and the West, including Britain.” He further stated that this “was a mistake” and Pakistan has “suffered for that.”
Asif asserted, “If we had not joined the war against the Soviet Union and the war after 9/11, Pakistan’s track record would have been unimpeachable.” He was referring to the Soviet-Afghan war, during which the US secretly backed anti-communist rebels, and the US-led ‘War on Terror’ initiated by President George W. Bush after the September 11, 2001 attacks, which targeted the Taliban and Al-Qaeda.
Asif argued that the West has historically used terrorist groups as proxies, pointing out that many now considered terrorists were once welcomed in Washington.
He stated, “When we were fighting the war on their side, way back in the ‘80s against the Soviet Union, all these terrorists of today, they were wining and dining in Washington… They were treated like VIPs in those days,” he said.
Pakistani defense minister Khawaja Asif responds to Yalda Hakim’s question on Pakistan funding terrorists.
“Well, we have been doing this dirty work for United States and west for 3 decades….including Great Britain”
— Viper 🇮🇳 (@viper202020)
The minister posited that groups labeled as terrorists in the region are not separate entities but part of a unified organization sharing a religious ideology. “They’re all mixed up. They’re not multiple organizations. They’re just one single organization, religiously organized, and with different faces, different leadership. At times they work together, at times they fight with each other.”
Asif continued by saying that “no country in the world has suffered so much from terrorism as Pakistan,” and accused India of consistently blaming Pakistan for terrorist attacks on its territory.
The minister’s comments follow increased tensions between Islamabad and New Delhi, triggered by a deadly attack in Indian-administered Kashmir earlier in the week, resulting in 26 fatalities.
The Resistance Front, a militant group allegedly linked to the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba, has claimed responsibility, prompting New Delhi – which has long accused Pakistan of supporting militant infiltrations in the region – to suggest Islamabad is indirectly responsible.
However, Asif claimed that Islamabad has “never heard of” the organization, while asserting that the Lashkar-e-Taiba “no longer exists.” He stated that it was simply “very convenient” for “big powers to blame Pakistan for whatever is happening in this region.”
Asif also implied that the Kashmir incident was a “false flag” operation. When questioned about the potential escalation of the current standoff with India to airstrikes, he warned that Islamabad would “retaliate in kind.”