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Militant Islam Monitor > Articles > Imran Khan: Supporting the Taliban?

Imran Khan: Supporting the Taliban?

June 7, 2011

From Joseph Farah's G2 Bulletin:

"A Pakistani politician is getting help from his country's Inter-Service Intelligence Directorate to block vital supplies that must travel through the country to reach U.S. and allied forces of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization in Afghanistan. Informed regional sources say that Pakistani ex-servicemen have joined with a cricket hero turned politician, Imran Khan, to begin blocking those supplies through the narrow Khyber Pass while rallying the Lashkar-e-Islam, or LI militant group, to attack the trucks carrying supplies to NATO forces in neighboring Afghanistan."

Excerpt from an article in the Daily Times "Is Imran supporting the Taliban?"

"His political stance needs a careful and serious analysis. The main point of concern is that he has never taken a clear stand against the activities of the Taliban. Instead, he has been pleading for a ‘negotiated' settlement, knowing full well that all negotiations and ‘peace' agreements have been used by the Taliban for the purpose of consolidating and then continuing terror activity. He should have offered to negotiate himself if he was confident of this course of action. The failure of the infamous Swat agreements must still be fresh in the public memory. Imran has never supported the army action. This includes army action in Swat and in South Waziristan. He has not even condemned the attacks on army General Headquarters (GHQ) and, more recently, the attack on the Pakistan Navy Station (PNS) Mehran base.

On the other hand, he is prominent in demanding the blocking of supplies to NATO forces through Pakistan — a step which would help the Taliban. He is against drone attacks. It is true that the drones cause regrettable collateral damage but they also target the al Qaeda and its supporters. The Taliban also demand an end to drones. Imran is prominently part of anti-US campaigns. True that many American policies have been self-serving, but then it is our responsibility to protect Pakistan's interests against any foreign country, not just the US. Just being against the US and the war on terror is again an indirect help to the Taliban. Most significantly, his calling the war on terror as an American war is the standard Taliban slogan. Over 30,000 Pakistanis have been killed due to the Taliban's terror attacks. Is it still not our war?

Looking at these factors, one is forced to question: what side is Imran on?"

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2011%5C05%5C28%5Cstory_28-5-2011_pg3_5

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