Ex-Pakistan PM Imran Khan Says, 'Taliban Will Not Respect Human Rights Until...'

"Considering the circumstances, is there any other alternative to the Taliban in Afghanistan? No, there isn't," Imran Khan reportedly said in a CNN interview.

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Kabul (Afghanistan): Former Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan has said that the Taliban will not respect human rights, including women`s right to education until they are recognised by the international community, Khaama Press reported. Imran Khan said that the Taliban should be made part of the international community and then the human rights and matters related to the education of girls should be discussed, Khaama Press reported citing Britain's Channel 4 interview.

"If you isolate them [Taliban], what influence are you going to have on them? If you mainstream and let them have a state, then talk about human rights. Right now, you push them on isolation; their money is frozen, so why would they listen to anyone?," Khaama Press quoted Imran Khan as saying in an interview with Channel 4.

'Get them (Taliban) involved': Imran Khan

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chairman Imran Khan said, "My advice is to get them involved, give them a stake in the international community so that when you tell them to have girls educated, they will listen to you; right now, they are not."

Imran Khan's remarks come amid the human rights crisis in Afghanistan. Afghan women have been calling on the Taliban to reopen secondary schools for girls in Afghanistan. This is not the first time Imran Khan has asked the international community to recognize the Taliban.

Earlier in 2022, Imran Khan, who was then Pakistan`s Prime Minister said that there is "no other alternative to Taliban in Afghanistan," so the "only option the world has right now is to engage with the Taliban for things to move forward."

In an exclusive interview with Fareed Zakaria for CNN, Imran Khan while speaking about Pakistan`s diplomatic ties with the Taliban in Afghanistan said that the Taliban will have to be recognised by the world as it is about the well-being and future of about 40 million Afghans. "Afghanistan is on the verge of experiencing the worst humanitarian crisis," PM Imran Khan said.

"Considering the circumstances, is there any other alternative to the Taliban in Afghanistan? No, there isn`t," Imran Khan said. "Forty million people in Afghanistan are in dire straits because of the ongoing situation in the country," Khan said.

'People of the US should understand'

He added that people of the US should understand that disliking the Taliban is one thing, however, thinking about the people of Afghanistan is another as they were facing "extreme difficulties."

Imran Khan called working with the Taliban as the "only alternative" for the sake of Afghans "because turning the Taliban away would only lead to chaos in the country." He urged the international community to release the frozen assets of Afghanistan and provide humanitarian assistance to prevent an "economic collapse" of the country.