UN General Assembly
2019

Come 9/11, Pakistan joined the United States in the war on terror. I opposed joining the war because we had repeatedly told the West that “jihad” meant fighting for freedom against foreign occupation. Having joined forces with the United States, which had occupied Afghanistan, we were then supposed to declare that jihad did not signify a struggle for freedom but that it should instead be equated with terrorism. I therefore tried to tell the Government of the time to remain neutral, in order to enable it to keep the upper hand and remain in control. I told the Government that if it joined the United States, it would become an accomplice and be attacked, which is what happened. They turned against us. We lived through a nightmare. Seventy thousand people were killed in a war that we had nothing to do with. No Pakistani was involved in 9/11. The Taliban and Al-Qaida were in Afghanistan. We had nothing to do with it, but we lost 70,000 Pakistanis.