Sheikh Rashid, Pakistan Interior Minister, has recently said in an interview that Pakistan has taken care of the Taliban for a long time.
"All top Taliban leaders were born and brought up in Pakistan. This has been our 'service' that we trained them and many more might be studying," Sheikh Rashid said in an interview on Hum News program called 'Breaking Point with Malick'.
At the same time, he countered the international criticism of Pakistan aiding the Taliban and said, "Mullah Baradar was in Pakistan jail. America asked us to release him. We want peace on the Pakistan-Afghanistan border. Peace suits both Pakistan and Afghanistan border," Sheikh Rashid said.
Now Pakistan is officially throwing its weight behind Afghanistan and is also refuting allegations that Pakistan had a hand in the fall of Afghanistan. Shah Mahmood Qureshi, foreign minister of Pakistan, said that the world must not abandon Afghanistan, as that would have dangerous consequences. "Such a move would have dangerous consequences and no one would be spared.”
This is not the first time that Pakistan leaders are admitting their links with the Taliban. Neelam Irshad Sheikh had earlier said that the Taliban will help Pakistan in Kashmir.
Pakistan's aid to the Taliban remains an open secret as it’s hard to distance itself from the Taliban. Reports have revealed that in the last phone call between Joe Biden, US President, and then Afghan President, Ghani on July 23, Ghani informed Biden that Afghanistan was under a full-scale invasion of the Taliban, and in this, they were not alone.
