ISLAMABAD   -  Former Interior Minister and Chairman Institute of Research and Reforms Rehman Malik yesterday urged the United States to play a conciliatory role in ending hostilities in the region to prevent another serious conflict. 

He said that the US had created battlefields in other countries and it was necessary to end it because the wars had caused human losses not only to the occupied countries but also to the American troops.

He said that despite withdrawal of US troops, the people of Afghanistan are still suffering and a slow transition is making it worse which is further complicating the Afghan issue while Pakistan is a constant victim of this conflict. 

“We feel that Americans should have ended this conflict by resolving the issue of Afghanistan for good after the Doha agreement, but it seems that Americans have not yet finished this agenda as hostility is growing now with each passing day at the cost of peace of this region,” he added. He expressed that US is not returning Afghan money despite being fully aware of the fact that people there are starving and the suffering Afghans need humanitarian support.

Former Interior Minister said that the world has a question as to why  US doesn’t concentrate on clearing its multi-trillion debt rather than spending trillions of dollars to become a party in others’ wars, sitting far off from the self-created battlefields? He said that as of now, the US controls about 750 bases in at least 80 countries worldwide with active combat deployments in Iraq and Syria and spends more on its military than the next 10 countries combined. 

He said that over the past 20 years alone, the US has spent $8 trillion on its so-called “global war on terror”, which accounts for $2.3 trillion in Afghanistan alone, $2.1 trillion was spent on the wars in Iraq and Syria, and $355 billion was attributed to other wars. 

Rehman Malik said that US, as a world power, should use its influence and might to help resolve issues like Afghanistan, Kashmir and Palestine or issues with similar dimensions. 

He said that Kashmir is under illegal occupation of the Indian Army which is committing unhindered brutalities against oppressed Kashmiris without fear and has never allowed human rights bodies in Indian Illegally Occupied Kashmir. He questioned will the US ever use its influence in the UN to end the miseries of Kashmiris? He said that US may convince and help India withdraw its forces from Kashmir and allow them to have the right to self-determination.

He further said that Pakistan assisted US soldiers in Afghanistan and previously fought against Soviet Union which derailed not only our economy but we also had to face Jihadists imported by the US that turned out to be terrorists in the form of Al Qaeda and other terrorist groups like the TTP.

“We are now smelling another sponsored war with Daesh and TTP and watching some foul play in this region which needs to be tackled for the sake of peace in this region,” he said. 

Malik said the region will get into more trouble if the world fails to recognise the Taliban government, otherwise, Afghanistan will become once again a hub of international terrorists giving an excuse to another war on terror to strike against this upcoming hub of terrorists. He said that Pakistan does not deserve another foul game as it has had already suffered heavily from the earlier American war on terror. 

He said that looking at the media reports regarding the use of Pakistani space against the Afghan Taliban by US is another clandestine way of turning the Afghan Taliban against Pakistan and the ultimate use of 80,000 terrorists parked in Nooristan belonging to TTP, Al Qaeda and Daesh which are the real potential threats for Pakistan in the near future.