Pakistan Defense Minister Says Neither Afghan War Was Jihad Nor for Islam

Pakistan's Defense Minister Khawaja Asif stated during a speech in the National Assembly on Monday that Pakistan did not participate in the two wars on Afghan soil out of love for religion or to defend Islam.

Asif emphasized that both ruling sides during those periods needed political legitimacy and support from a major power, which was the primary reason for Pakistan's involvement. He noted that Pakistan even altered its educational curriculum to support these wars, changes that have not been rectified to this day. History was rewritten, he said, to align with the official war narrative.

Asif said Pakistan paid a heavy cost after 1999 by entering the conflict again to gain U.S. support, turning the country into the front line of what he described as a mercenary war. He criticized former leaders General Zia-ul-Haq and General Pervez Musharraf for these decisions, stating Pakistan was used "like tissue paper, even worse than toilet paper," and then discarded.

This wrong decision, Asif argued, positioned Pakistan as a proxy in others' wars. During two decades of fighting against the Taliban and al-Qaeda in Afghanistan, Pakistan served as a key transit route for coalition forces and equipment via Karachi port and land and air paths.

However, the U.S. repeatedly accused Pakistan of sheltering insurgent networks, particularly the Haqqani network, which then-Joint Chiefs Chairman Mike Mullen called an arm of Pakistan's ISI.

Asif urged Pakistan to acknowledge past mistakes to move beyond their consequences, adding that the society does not need to prove its religious identity abroad but should focus on ties to its land and people.