In his address to the 76th session of the United Nations General Assembly, Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan called on the global community to strengthen and stabilise the Taliban government in Afghanistan “for the sake of the people of Afghanistan”.

“There is only one way to go. We must strengthen and stabilise the current government in Afghanistan,” he said.

Imran Khan stated that there are two paths available to the international community when it comes to Taliban-ruled Afghanistan. Either, the world can ‘neglect’ the nation or ‘stabilise’ its current government, he suggested.

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“If we neglect Afghanistan right now, according to the UN, half the people of Afghanistan are already vulnerable and by next year almost 90 per cent of the people in Afghanistan will go below the poverty line. There is a huge humanitarian crisis looming ahead. And this will have serious repercussions not just for the neighbours of Afghanistan but everywhere,” Imran Khan was quoted as saying in a report by Geo News.

Pakistan PM Imran Khan said a destabilised and chaotic has the potential to once again become a “safe haven for international terrorists”. Preventing this was the reason the US came to Afghanistan in the first place, he pointed out.

Earlier, in an interview with Newsweek, Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan had said that the Taliban can be potential partners in peace for both the United States and Pakistan. He also termed US President Joe Biden’s hard-line stance against the Taliban as “unnecessary”.

‘ENCOURAGE TALIBAN TO WALK THEIR TALK’

According to Pakistan PM Imran Khan, the global community must incentivise the Taliban and encourage them to walk their talk of respecting human rights, forming an inclusive government and preventing their soil from being used by terrorists.

“If the world community incentivises them and encourages them to walk this talk, it will be a win-win situation for everyone,” he said.

He added that the 20 years the coalition forces spent in Afghanistan will, then, not be for naught because Afghan soil will not be used by international terrorists.

‘CANNOT WASTE TIME’

The Pakistan leader appealed to the world community to act fast as Afghanistan is at a “critical” juncture at present.

“You cannot waste time. Help is needed there. Humanitarian assistance has to be given there immediately. The Secretary General of the United Nations has taken bold steps. I urge you to mobilise the international community, and move in this direction,” Imran Khan said.

ON PAKISTAN’S ROLE IN AFGHAN CRISIS

Pakistan PM Imran Khan, in his address, said that Pakistan had been blamed by American and European politicans for the current situation in Afghanistan “for some reason”.

“From this platform, I want them all to know, the country that suffered the most, apart from Afghanistan, was Pakistan when we joined the US war on terror after 9/11,” he said.

He stated that Pakistan was left to pick up the pieces after the Soviets and Americans left Afghanistan in 1989.

Over the past month, there have been protests by local Afghans in Kabul and other cities of Afghanistan against Pakistan for its alleged involvement and closeness with the Taliban.

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