US sees Pakistan useful only for clearing mess in Afghanistan: Imran Khan
Islamabad, Aug 12: Taking a dig at the US, Prime Minister Imran Khan has said that Washington sees Pakistan as "useful" only for clearing the "mess" it has left behind in Afghanistan after 20 years of fighting and prefers India when it comes to forming a strategic partnership.
Afghanistan has seen an uptick in violence by the Taliban after US President Joe Biden's announcement of the withdrawal of American and NATO troops by August 31.
Pakistan is just considered only to be useful in the context of somehow settling this mess which has been left behind after 20 years of trying to find a military solution when there was not one, Khan told foreign journalists at his home here on Wednesday.
Khan said that since the US decided to have a strategic partnership with India, Washington was treating Pakistan differently, according to a journalist present at the meeting.
Islamabad is unhappy that Biden has not spoken to Prime Minister Khan since he assumed the presidency in January.
Pakistan's National Security Adviser Moeed Yusuf recently expressed disappointment over President Biden's reluctance to contact Prime Minister Khan despite considering Islamabad as an important country in some critical issues like Afghanistan.
Yousuf also said that Islamabad has other "options" if the American leader continues to ignore the country's leadership.
The US State Department, however, had assured Islamabad that Washington recognises Pakistan's vital role in restoring peace in Afghanistan and wants Islamabad to play that role.
US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin spoke over the phone with Pakistan Army chief Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa this week and discussed the current situation in Afghanistan.
After the call, the Pentagon said the US was having conversations with the Pakistani leadership about the need to shut down the safe havens for Taliban militants along the Afghan-Pakistan border that are providing a source of more insecurity and instability inside Afghanistan.
Afghanistan and the US have criticised Pakistan in the past for allowing Taliban fighters to cross into Pakistan where they are provided safe havens and also receive medical treatment.
At the meeting with foreign journalists, Prime Minister Khan said that a political solution to the Afghan problem was difficult as the Taliban was not ready to talk with the Kabul government as long as President Ashraf Ghani is there.
He said the Taliban leaders told him during a visit that the Ghani government was a puppet.
The condition is that as long as Ashraf Ghani is there, we (Taliban) are not going to talk to the Afghan government, Khan quoted the Taliban leaders as saying.
Khan has taken a strong stand on the hasty withdrawal of the US troops from Afghanistan, which has plunged the country into a chaotic situation.
Khan also reiterated that Pakistan wouldn't provide bases to the US forces after the drawdown. Though it was unclear if the US formally asked for the facility.
Pakistan has said that it has used its influence over the Taliban to press the insurgents into talks with the US and the Afghan government to find a political solution to the crisis.
Khan last month said that the US really messed it up in Afghanistan as he questioned the American motive for the 2001 invasion of the country in the first place and then their subsequent attempts of seeking a political solution with the Taliban from a position of weakness.
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New strikes light up the night in Tehran as Israel vows 'many surprises'
Dubai (AP): The Iran war exploded further late on Saturday as pillars of flame rose above an oil storage facility in Tehran, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu promised "many surprises" for the next phase of the week-old conflict.
Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump said he has ruled out having Kurds join the Iran war. Trump said Kurdish fighters in the region are willing to assist in efforts to topple the Iranian government, but their involvement would make the conflict more complicated.
"The war is complicated enough without having -- getting the Kurds involved," Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One.
Iranian state media confirmed the strike on the oil facility as Associated Press video showed the horizon glowing against the night sky. Israel's military confirmed new strikes that shook neighbourhoods in Tehran's east and south but did not comment on targets.
It appeared to be the first time a civil industrial facility has been targeted in the war. State media blamed "an attack from the US and the Zionist regime" at the facility that supplies the capital and neighbouring provinces in the north.
Earlier in the day, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian apologised for attacks on "neighbouring countries", even as his country's missiles and drones flew toward Gulf Arab states and hard-liners asserted that Tehran's war strategy would not change.
A rift between more pragmatic politicians looking to de-escalate the war and others committed to battling the United States and Israel could complicate any diplomatic efforts. Conflicting statements emerged from two of the three members of the leadership council overseeing Iran since Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed in the war's opening airstrikes.
Trump threatened that Iran would be "hit very hard" and more "areas and groups of people" would become targets, without elaborating. Already, the conflict has rattled global markets and left Iran's leadership weakened by hundreds of Israeli and American airstrikes.
Along with his apology, Pezeshkian dismissed Trump's call for Tehran to surrender unconditionally, saying: "That is a dream that they should take to their grave."
Iran makes varying statements on attacks
Pezeshkian's message, seemingly filmed in a hurry, underlined the limited powers exercised by the theocracy's leaders over the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, which controls the hundreds of ballistic missiles targeting Israel and other countries. It answered only to Khamenei and appears to be picking its own targets.
Pezeshkian's statement said Iran's leadership council had been in touch with the armed forces and "from now on, they should not attack neighbouring countries or fire missiles at them, unless we are attacked by those countries. I think we should solve this through diplomacy".
The US strikes have not come from the Gulf Arab governments under attack, but from US bases and vessels in the region.
But hard-line judiciary chief Gholam Hossein Mohseni-Ejei, another member of the three-man leadership council, suggested that war strategy will not change.
"The geography of some countries in the region -- both overtly and covertly -- is in the hands of the enemy, and those points are used against our country in acts of aggression. Intense attacks on these targets will continue," he posted on X.
"As long as the presence of US bases in the region continue, the countries will not enjoy peace," Iran's Parliament speaker and a former Revolutionary Guard general, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, said on X. He called defence policies in line with the late supreme leader's guidance.
Iran's UN mission later suggested, without offering evidence, that strikes on non-military sites "may have resulted from interception by US electronic defence systems".
Late on Saturday, top Iranian security official Ali Larijani asserted in an address carried by state media that "our leaders are united on this issue and have no disagreements with one another".
He also said the leadership council has requested that "arrangements be made" to convene the Assembly of Experts to choose the next supreme leader, but did not say when.
US says more intense bombing lies ahead
Earlier, AP video showed explosions over western Tehran as Israel said it struck a Tehran airport it said was used to transfer weapons and cash to militant groups.
"Tehran is under severe bombardment" and even people far from military and government targets are living in fear, said a university student in western Tehran, speaking on condition of anonymity because of security concerns.
The US and Israel have battered Iran, targeting its military capabilities, leadership and nuclear programme. The war's stated goals and timelines have repeatedly shifted as the US has at times suggested it seeks to topple Iran's government or elevate new leadership from within.
The fighting has killed at least 1,230 people in Iran, more than 290 in Lebanon and 11 in Israel, according to officials in those countries. Six US troops have been killed.
In Lebanon, Israel carried out a commando raid to search for clues about a navigator who went missing 40 years ago that left dozens of people dead and dozens more wounded overnight.
Incoming missiles from Iran had people heading to bomb shelters again across Israel, with no reports of casualties.
Missile lands at US Embassy compound in Iraq
Three Iraqi security officials said a missile landed on the helicopter landing pad in the US embassy complex in Baghdad. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to comment publicly. An embassy spokesperson declined to comment. There were no reports of casualties.
It was the first reported strike to land in Baghdad's heavily-fortified Green Zone since the Iran war began. Iran and allied Iraqi militias have launched dozens of attacks on US military bases and other facilities in Iraq since then.
Iraq's caretaker Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani called the embassy attack a "terrorist act" carried out by "rogue groups".
Strikes target Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and Dubai
US allies in the Gulf have said the Trump administration did not give them adequate time to prepare for the war.
Hours after Pezeshkian's apology, the United Arab Emirates said debris from an aerial interception fell onto a vehicle and killed an "Asian driver". Four people have now been killed in the UAE since the war began. Authorities have said all were foreign nationals.
Sirens sounded earlier on Saturday in Bahrain as Iran targeted the island kingdom. Saudi Arabia said it destroyed drones headed toward its vast Shaybah oil field and shot down a ballistic missile launched toward Prince Sultan Air Base, which hosts US forces.
In Dubai, several blasts were heard on Saturday morning and the government said it had activated air defences. Passengers waiting for flights at Dubai International Airport were ushered into train tunnels. Long-haul carrier Emirates briefly said all flights to and from Dubai were suspended.
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