The United States’ two-decade war on terror bred more terrorism, Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan said, claiming over 80,000 Pakistanis died because Islamabad aligned with the US. On the Taliban, he said the world has no "alternative" than to engage with them. 

“The US 'war on terror' actually bred terrorists. I can tell you from Pakistan's example because by joining the US, we had 80,000 people die," Khan said in an interview to CNN. The war produced more terrorists as it went along, he added. 

The night raids, drone attacks, and bombings in Afghan villages had produced terrorists, he said, while maintaining a steady silence on the almost same kind of war the Pakistani army is fighting in its own tribal areas, including in Balochistan. 

Pakistan Army is routinely accused of excesses in its restive Balochistan, a southwestern province, rich in natural resources, seeing an insurgency for over five decades now. 

The public in the US, he said, isn’t aware of the collateral damage Pakistan and Afghanistan had sustained during the war. 

"There were suicide attacks all over the country. We lost 80,000 people,” he said in an interview with CNN’s Fareed Zakaria. When asked that terror continues even the US left the region, Khan claimed it was much less than before—a claim, many dispute, especially in Pakistan.

General Mckenzie, the chief of the US CentComm, had said recently that terrorists were focussing more on Pakistan since the US troops had left the region last year. 

On the Taliban, he claimed that there was no alternative to them, and no one can replace them. 

“Is there an alternative to the Taliban right now? No, there isn't. Is there a chance that if the Taliban government is squeezed there could be a change for the better? No," he said in the interview. 

"That's the only way forward right now," he said, is to “engage” with them, “incentivize” them for things like human rights and inclusivity. 

Khan also warned against abandoning the Taliban that would “descend neighboring countries into chaos”, with millions of refugees and terrorists sneaking along with them. When asked whether the US should recognize the Taliban government, he said recognition would have to come "sooner or later".

(SAM)