Aug 26, 2021: US-backed govt in Kabul used Pakistan as a scapegoat to excuse its own corruption and unpopularity, says NSA Moeed Yusuf.
National Security Adviser (NSA) Dr. Moeed Yousaf has said that the United States and Pakistan have a common interest in working together in Afghanistan, but added that this will require improving bilateral relations.
In a telephone interview with the Washington Post, the NSA said instability in Afghanistan could lead to more terrorism, refugees and economic hardship for Pakistan.
“At the moment, in the situation we are in, how are the interests of the United States and Pakistan not?” he said. I am not asking for any sympathy from Pakistan. I’m thinking of pure American selfish national interests. How does it help to alienate a country of this size, stature and power?”
NSA Dr Moeed Yousuf said that Pakistan was a victim of the war on terror despite having nothing to do with the 9/11 attacks. “We worked together with the United States to fight and then suffered a major backlash,” he said, adding that Pakistan was willing to let the past be in the past and to work together as equal partners in the future to boost regional stability.
The NSA said the US-backed government in Kabul used Pakistan as a scapegoat for its incompetence, corruption and unpopularity. He said it was Pakistan who persuaded Taliban to come to the negotiation table, but was then sidelined and is now being blamed for the breakdown in talks.
“Did Pakistan tell the Afghan National Army not to fight? Did Pakistan tell [President] Ashraf Ghani to run away?” he said. “The entire state collapsed in a week. So somebody was lying, somebody was misreporting, or somebody was mistaken about the reality and when it came to informing the taxpayers of the Western world.”
The NSA added that Pakistan wanted the United States to increase its diplomatic and economic involvement in Afghanistan and find a way to engage diplomatically with the Taliban. He added that the United States should not isolate Afghanistan to punish its new rulers.
“Now that the Taliban have the whole country, they don’t really need Islamabad as much anymore,” he said. “Assistance and recognition is the leverage. Who has that? It’s the Western countries that have much more leverage in Afghanistan than Pakistan.”
The NSA further said that US-Pakistan relations could not be about Afghanistan alone as the shared interests of both the countries were broad. But first, he said, the United States must learn the lessons of the 1990s, when it left Afghanistan. “Otherwise, it can expect similar results.”
“If a security vacuum is left in Afghanistan by abandoning it, you will see that these terrorist organisations take root again. Let’s not kid ourselves,” Moeed said.
Ryan Crocker, the former US ambassador to Afghanistan and Pakistan, wrote in the New York Times last week that the United States had made the mistake of disengaging from Pakistan in the 1990s and would now turn its back on Islamabad and repeat that mistake.
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