Pakistani minister admits to backing terror outfits for the West, calls it a costly mistake

In a startling admission, Pakistan’s Defence Minister Khwaja M Asif acknowledged that Islamabad had engaged in what he termed as “dirty work” for the United States and Western nations, including the United Kingdom, by supporting and funding militant groups over the past several decades.

Speaking to the British news outlet Sky News, Asif was asked about Pakistan’s long-standing history of backing terror outfits.

He replied, “We have been doing this dirty work for the US for the past three decades, including the West and the United Kingdom.” However, he quickly added that this involvement was a mistake that has deeply harmed Pakistan’s own interests.

According to him, had Pakistan remained neutral during the Soviet-Afghan war and the post-9/11 US-led campaign in Afghanistan, the country’s international record would have been "unimpeachable."

During the Soviet-Afghan war, Pakistan played a key role in training and sheltering armed militants at the behest of the US, taking advantage of its geographical proximity to Afghanistan. This arrangement placed Pakistan at the center of the proxy war between the US and the USSR. Later, following the 9/11 attacks orchestrated by al-Qaeda — a group sheltered by the Taliban — Pakistan again aligned with the US, this time to support military operations against the Taliban regime.

Asif's admission comes in the wake of the horrific terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pahalgam, where 26 civilians, mostly tourists, were brutally killed.

The attack has been linked to 'The Resistance Front' (TRF), a known affiliate of the banned terrorist outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), led by 26/11 mastermind Hafiz Saeed.

Intelligence sources believe that the Pahalgam massacre was executed by a hardened group of mostly foreign terrorists with logistical and ground support from local collaborators. The same network is suspected to be behind a series of recent attacks in the Kashmir region, including in Sonamarg, Ganderbal, and Boota Pathri.

In October 2024, attacks at Boota Pathri and Sonamarg resulted in the deaths of army personnel, laborers, and a doctor. One of the prime suspects in the Pahalgam massacre, Hashim Musa, is also believed to have been involved in those earlier incidents.