Khawaja Asif Claims US Treated Pakistan as Disposable Ally
Khawaja Asif stated that aligning with the US after 1999, especially in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001, attacks, came at a heavy and damaging cost for Pakistan. He remarked that Pakistan was treated as disposable—used to serve a purpose and then discarded without regard.
Pakistan’s Defense Minister Khawaja Asif has explicitly acknowledged Islamabad’s past relationship with the United States. He accused Washington of “exploiting” the Southeast Asian country for its strategic advantage and then discarding it “like a piece of toilet paper” once its objectives were achieved.
Speaking in Pakistan’s National Assembly, Asif acknowledged that Pakistan often denies its terror history, calling it “the fault of previous dictators.”
The Pakistani minister also described Islamabad’s involvement in two Afghan wars as a “mistake” and said that terrorism in Pakistan today is a result of past mistakes.
On the Pak-US Alliance
Asif spoke about Pakistan’s renewed engagement with Washington after 1999, especially regarding Afghanistan, which, he said, caused long-term damage to the country.
He said that the price of re-engaging with the US after 1999, especially after the September 11, 2001 attacks, was too high. He said, “Pakistan was treated worse than a piece of toilet paper, used for one purpose and then thrown away.”
The Defense Minister said that Islamabad again sided with Washington in the US-led Afghan war after 2001, turning against the Taliban.
He said that although the US eventually withdrew from the region, Pakistan continued to grapple with violence, extremism, and economic hardship for a long time.
Afghan Mistakes
Asif also challenged the official narrative that Pakistan’s involvement in the Afghan conflict was due to religious compulsion. He believed that Pakistanis were sent to fight under the banner of jihad, calling it misleading and extremely harmful.
He told Parliament that “two former military dictators (Zia-ul-Haq and Pervez Musharraf) joined the war in Afghanistan not for Islam, but to appease a superpower.”
The minister said, “We deny our history and do not acknowledge our mistakes. Terrorism is the result of mistakes made by dictators in the past.”
Asif said, “The damage we have suffered can never be compensated,” calling Pakistan’s mistakes “irreparable.”
Asif also claimed that Pakistan’s education system was changed to justify these wars, with changes in thinking still prevalent today.
