As the withdrawal of foreign troops from Afghanistan nears an end, a slew of speculations and questions about the next strategy of Pakistan, a lead player in the peace process, whirl around the minds of people concerned about the post-pull out situation in the region.
Since the US announcement of leaving Afghanistan by September 11 this year, rumors rife that Pakistan would provide military bases to America for future action if the Taliban tries to take over the government, sparking fears of vengeful reactions by the militant group.
With Pakistan foreign ministry rejecting the rumors many times, Prime Minister Imran Khan has now sent a clear message to the United States that Pakistan will not engage in any confrontation.
Speaking in an interview with American TV channel HBO Axios’s host Jonathan Swan, the cricketer-turned-politician said that Pakistan will “absolutely not” give any bases to the US.
“There’s no way we’re going to allow any bases or any sort of action from Pakistani territory into Afghanistan. Absolutely not,” the premier had said.
He said that Pakistan had to suffer the most due to the war against terrorism.
“Over 70,000 Pakistanis embraced martyrdom due to US-Afghan war. We have given sacrifices more than anybody else in this war,” PM Imran Khan said, adding, “We only want peace and don’t want to be part of any confrontation.”
In his interview with The New York, the premier said that Pakistan would want civilised relationship with the US after the latter quits Afghanistan.
The clear-cut stance by PM Imran Khan has won the hearts of Pakistanis as they are praising him for the move that was not taken by any predecessor government. PM’s words, ‘Absolutely Not’, are now trending on Twitter with 52k tweets till the time of reporting.
"Absolutely Not" pic.twitter.com/D2igZHCb7x
— Paki (@PakilinksNews) June 26, 2021
ABSOLUTELY NOT 🤩🔥
From "do more" to "absolutely NOT".
We came a long way.
Anchors reaction tho, they literally can't hear No from any asian country😂👊#AbsolutelyNot pic.twitter.com/pDf5AhUglK— Arqam Rajpoot♥️🇵🇰 (@ArqamRajpoot1) June 26, 2021
A user says the FATF’s decision to keep Pakistan on the grey list despite encouraging progress on action plan is out come of the premier’s bold stand.
This was expected Absolutely Not Effect.
But I still stand with PM IK on not giving base to US forces.#BlackMailerFATF pic.twitter.com/RwIfktYDqP— Engr. Aftab Afridi🇵🇰🇬🇧 (@aftabaftab) June 25, 2021
https://twitter.com/MehdiAJ313/status/1408029294220218370
#مرد_مجاہد_عمران_خان
We are an independent state. We have courage to say No more and absolutely not in front of Super power. We believe in Allah. We will do everything according to our own choice. @IrfanQamar512 pic.twitter.com/Q2FJvZKMWb— Iᖇᖴᗩᑎ𝖰𝖺𝗆𝖺𝗋 (@IrfanQamar512) June 24, 2021
