ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan has said that Pakistan has “no favourites” in Afghanistan and it would support any government in the neighbouring country chosen by the Afghans themselves. “We do not have any favourites in Afghanistan. Our policy is that whoever the people of Afghanistan choose, Pakistan will have the best relationship with them,” the prime minister said in response to a question of an Afghan journalist, here at the PM House. A delegation of journalists from Afghanistan, currently in Pakistan to participate in the Pak-Afghan Media Conclave in Islamabad, held an interaction with Prime Minister Imran Khan late Wednesday and asked him questions related to Pakistan’s stance on the current Afghan situation. The prime minister said Pakistan was no longer pursuing its 90s’ policy of strategic depth in Afghanistan as his government strongly believed that “Afghanistan can never be controlled from outside”. To a question on Taliban killing Afghans, the prime minister said, “What Taliban are doing or not doing, has nothing to do with Pakistan.” “We are not responsible, neither we are a spokesperson for Taliban,” he categorically stated. He said there were three million Afghan refugees residing in Pakistan and pointed out that keeping a vigil on the 25,000 to 30,000 of them daily crossing over to Afghanistan and returned, was a huge challenge. He termed as “unfortunate’ the recent statements from the Afghan government officials accusing Pakistan of supporting the Taliban.
