Senior leader of ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf admits to close ties with Taliban, says it will help free Kashmir

During a news broadcast, one of the leaders of the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government has admitted to the Pakistan military’s close ties with the Taliban and how the Taliban will get in Kashmir.

During an on-air television show, Neelam Irshad Sheikh, a senior leader of the Imran Khan-led PTI government, openly admitted the Pakistan military’s close ties with the Taliban. He added that the Taliban will win Kashmir and hand it over to Pakistan.

“The Taliban are saying that they are with us and they will help us in Kashmir,” Sheikh said during the show.

The news host, alarmed by the PTI leader’s statement, said, “Do you realise what you’ve said, Madam? You are completely unaware of what you have said. For God’s sake ma’am, this show will be broadcast all over the world. In India, this will be seen.”

However, Sheikh was unconcerned of any blowback and continued, “Taliban will help us because they have been mistreated.”

The elected Afghan government has always maintained that Pakistan and its intelligence arm have supported the Taliban by providing them with sanctuary, training, and logistics support.

It must also be noted that Imran Khan – popularly known as ‘Taliban’ Khan – said that the Taliban have broken the “shackles of slavery” when it captured Kabul last week. 

When the Taliban took power in 1996, Pakistan along with Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) recognised this puritanical Islamic regime and gave aid and support. However, a lot has changed in the last twenty years and it remains to be seen how the oil-rich Arab kingdom and the Emirates deal with the new regime in Afghanistan.

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