US ‘sooner or later’ must recognize Taliban: Pakistan PM Khan

(News 1st); Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan has said the United States Government will “sooner or later” have to recognise the Taliban, which now rules Afghanistan. In a televised interview with the Turkish-state affiliated TRT World, Khan said on Saturday the US is in a state of “shock and confusion” after the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan on August 15. Khan also stated that the US public is currently looking for a scapegoat and “unfairly targeting” President Joe Biden. Critics have said the West-backed Government collapsed following Biden’s decision to pull out US troops from Afghanistan. Despite intense pressure, Biden stuck to the August 31 deadline to withdraw troops, ending the US’s longest war. The US troop withdrawal was part of an agreement with the Taliban signed under former President Donald Trump in 2020. The agreement signed in the Qatari capital Doha also asked the Taliban not to allow armed groups such as al-Qaeda to use Afghan soil to carry out attacks against the US and its allies. But the dramatic military takeover of Afghanistan by the Taliban has prompted the US and international financial institutions to cut ties with the country. Afghan central bank assets worth more than $9bn were frozen by the US triggering a liquidity crisis. Prime Minister Imran Khan stressed that if the US does not unfreeze the Afghan reserves, the country could face a “chaotic situation”, and that the US has to come up with a solution.