The Pakistani PM has said that the US "martyred" bin Laden after its 2011 raid. Khan was critical of his predecessors' relationship with Washington and rued Islamabad's decision to partner the US in the war on terror.
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Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan said Thursday that the United States "martyred" Osama bin Laden by killing the al-Qaida leader in 2011.
The US did not make the Pakistani government aware of its plans to take out the mastermind of the 9/11 terror attacks and Khan delivered a thinly veiled criticism of Washington during a speech in parliament, while also denouncing his predecessors' foreign policies.
Khan said he regretted Pakistan's partnership with the US in the war on terror and accused the White House of using abusive language against Islamabad in the past.
The former cricketer turned politician also expressed his ire at Washington's covert operation on May 2, 2011, carried out the US Navy SEALs. The special operations force pounced on bin Laden's compound in the military garrison town of Abbottabad in the middle of the night, killing the al-Qaida chief along with several of his operatives.
"We sided with the US in the War on Terror," Khan said, "but they came here and killed him, martyred him and ... used abusive language against us (and) did not inform us (of the raid), despite the fact that we lost 70,000 people in the war on terror."
Khan: 'They blamed us for every failure'
Over the years Washington has repeatedly accused Pakistan of harboring terrorists, something Pakistan has repeatedly denied and Khan was keen to send a broadside in the direction of Washington. He told parliament: "The way we supported America in the war on terror, and the insults we had to face in return. They blamed us for every failure in Afghanistan. They openly held us responsible because they did not succeed in Afghanistan,'' Khan said.
Endless battle for power in Afghanistan
Seventeen years after the US invasion of Afghanistan, the war-torn country remains in the grip of Islamist violence. A string of deadly attacks in the last year suggests militants are stronger than ever.
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Fragile security
Repeated attacks in Afghanistan in 2018 and 2019 have killed and wounded hundreds of innocent Afghans, and shown the world the fragile and worsening state of security in the conflict-stricken country. The incidents have plunged war-weary Afghan citizens into a state of despair and highlighted the limitations faced by the government in Kabul in ensuring public security.
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A long series of attacks
The violent incidents have made Afghanistan once again a staple of international headlines. Outfits like the Taliban and the "Islamic State" (IS) have claimed responsibility for the attacks. The Afghan government is under heavy pressure to restore security and take back territory controlled by a number of insurgent groups, including the Taliban and IS.
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Spring offensive
In 2018, the Taliban announced the start of their annual spring offensive, dismissing an offer of peace talks by President Ashraf Ghani. The militants, fighting to restore their version of strict Islamic law to Afghanistan, said their campaign was a response to a more aggressive US military strategy adopted in 2017, which aims to force the militants into peace talks.
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Trump's Afghanistan policy
US President Donald Trump unveiled a new strategy for Afghanistan in 2017, vowing to deploy more troops to train and advise Afghan security forces. Trump also pledged to support Afghan troops in their war against the Taliban and maintain US presence in the country for as long as there was a need for it. In 2019, he reversed course and promised a troop pullout.
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Afghan peace process
Despite President Ghani's offer in February 2018 for peace talks "without preconditions," the Taliban had until 2019 shown no interest, dismissing the peace overtures as a "conspiracy."
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Pakistani support
Pakistan has been under pressure from Kabul and Washington to stop offering safe havens to militants blamed for attacks in Afghanistan, a charge Islamabad denies and insists that its influence over the insurgents has been exaggerated. Kabul and Islamabad regularly trade accusations of harboring the other country's militants and the harsh language has underscored the strains between them.
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Role of the warlords
Apart from the Taliban, Afghan warlords exercise massive influence in the country. Last year, Hizb-i-Islami leader Gulbuddin Hekmatyar returned to Kabul after a 20-year exile to play an active role in Afghan politics. In September 2016, the Afghan government signed a deal with Hekmatyar in the hope that other warlords and militant groups would seek better ties with Kabul.
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An inefficient government
In the midst of an endless battle for power, President Ghani's approval ratings continue to plummet. Rampant corruption in the Afghan government and a long tug-of-war within the US-brokered national unity government has had a negative impact on the government's efforts to eradicate terrorism.
However, opposition lawmaker Khwaja Mohammed Asif slammed Khan for calling bin Laden a martyr, saying the al-Qaida chief had brought terrorism to Pakistan. "He (bin Laden) ruined my country but he (Khan) is calling him a martyr,'' Asif said.
Since assuming power in August 2018, Khan said his government has reset the Pakistan-US relationship, elevating it to one of mutual respect, for which he also credited the personal rapport he has built with President Donald Trump.
"No one insults us now," Khan said of modern-day relations with foreign powers.
Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates were the only countries to formally recognize the Taliban government in Afghanistan.
But Washington has long-held grievances against the Taliban, particularly over harboring bin Laden while he planned terrorist attacks against the US.
After 9/11, Pakistan became an ally of the United States against the Taliban, which was eventually ousted by a US-led coalition in November 2001.
jsi/rc (AP, AFP, Reuters)
A previous version of this article stated that the Taliban was ousted by the US coalition in 2011. This has now been corrected. The department apologizes for the error.
