By Admin 
Pakistan’s Defense Minister Khawaja Asif gave a big statement in the National Assembly regarding Pakistan’s relations with America and said that the roots of terrorism lay in Pakistan only when it jumped into the war in Afghanistan for America. He said that Pakistan’s past on the issue of terrorism has been full of controversies and termed it as a serious mistake made during the military rule. Khawaja Asif said that Pakistan often avoids accepting its history, whereas the reality is that the roots of terrorism lay in the same period when Pakistan jumped into the war in Afghanistan for America.
Khawaja Asif also raised questions on Pakistan’s participation in the two wars of Afghanistan. He said that the country is suffering the consequences of these decisions till date. According to him, the strategic closeness with America regarding Afghanistan after 1989 proved to be a long term loss for Pakistan.
Referring to the events after the September 11, 2001 attacks, Khawaja Asif said that Pakistan paid a heavy price for joining the global campaign against terrorism with America and was treated as if it had been used and thrown away like toilet paper.
This statement of Khwaja Asif has now become the center of discussion in international political circles. He also said that after 2001, Pakistan again supported the US-led war in Afghanistan and took a stand against the Afghan Taliban, but when America left Afghanistan, Pakistan had to face the consequences alone and violence, fundamentalism and economic crisis increased in the country.
Khawaja Asif also challenged the narrative in which the Afghan war was presented as a religious duty. He said that a large number of people were prepared in the name of Jihad whereas the real objective was to please a superpower (America). Khawaja Asif also claimed that General Zia-ul-Haq and General Pervez Musharraf took part in the Afghan war not as an Islamic duty but to satisfy America.
The Pakistani Defense Minister admitted that Pakistan has been reluctant to accept its mistakes and according to him, the terrorism that exists in the country today is the result of the policies of the past, and the damage caused by these decisions can never be compensated.
Khawaja Asif also said that during that period, changes were made in the education system and ideological structure to justify participation in the war and the impact of these policy and ideological changes is still visible on the politics and society of Pakistan.