Afghanistan Times
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KABUL – In a stunning series of interviews following the April 22 terror attack in Jammu & Kashmir that killed 26 tourists, Pakistan’s Defense Minister Khawaja Asif acknowledged that Islamabad supported jihadist groups for decades—calling it “dirty work for the West.” Speaking to UK-based Sky News and Russia Today, Asif said, “We have been doing this dirty work for about three decades for the West, including Britain.” He declared that jihad was “invented by the West” and lamented that Pakistan was left to suffer the consequences.
Asif said Pakistan joined the U.S.-led wars in Afghanistan under military dictators and blamed the West for abandoning the country after using it as a strategic base. He claimed, “Our madrassas were providing the religious zealots who were going across the border, fighting with the Soviet Union as jihad,” and insisted, “Lashkar-e-Taiba is ancient… It doesn’t exist anymore.”
Asked about The Resistance Front—an LeT offshoot that claimed responsibility for the Pahalgam attack—Asif dismissed its connection to Pakistan. He instead labeled India’s reaction, including alleged unannounced water releases into Pakistan, as “water terrorism.” The minister also reiterated Pakistan’s offer for an international probe into the Kashmir massacre and called the 2019 Pulwama attack “a false flag operation.”
The statements come amid soaring tensions between India and Pakistan, as New Delhi accuses Islamabad of harboring and enabling terror networks.
