“We Still Have 30,000-40,000” Terrorists: Imran Khan

Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan at the US Institute of Peace said Tuesday that about “30,000 to 40,000” terrorists who had trained and fought in “some part of Afghanistan or Kashmir” were in his country.

“Until we came into power, the government did not have the political will, because when you talk about militant groups, we still have about 30,000-40,000 armed people who have been trained and fought in some part of Afghanistan or Kashmir,” said the Pakistani prime minister.

“There was a watershed in Pakistani politics. In 2014, the Pakistani Taliban slaughtered 150 schoolchildren at Army Public School. All the political parties signed the National Action Plan and we all decided after that, that we will not allow any militant groups to operate inside Pakistan,” he said.

“This is the first time it’s happening. We’ve taken over their institutes, their seminaries. We have administrators there,” he added.

At another event, Imran Khan also said “40 different militant groups” were operating from Pakistan. Past governments, particularly in the last 15 years, were not in control and did not tell US about the exact “truth on the ground,” he said.

“We were fighting the US war on terror. Pakistan has nothing to do with 9/11. Al-Qaeda was in Afghanistan. There were no militant Taliban in Pakistan. But we joined the US war. Unfortunately, when things went wrong, where I blame my government, we did not tell US exactly the truth on the ground,” Khan told the US lawmakers at the Capitol Hill.

“Part of the reason was, our governments were not in control. There were 40 different militant groups operating within Pakistan,” he stated.

“So Pakistan went through a period where people like us were worried about could we survive it. So while the US expected us to do more and help the US win the war, Pakistan at that time was fighting for its own existence,” Khan added.