Pakistan’s Afghan policy has failed, PML-N Senator Mushahid Hussain Syed has said as he urged the government to have a high-level dialogue with the interim Afghan government and engage regional countries on the threat of terrorism.

“We have failed to understand Afghanistan,” he said while appearing on Rubaroo which was aired on Aaj News on Sunday. “I said in the 80s that the American CIA-run Jihad would cost us as the US purposes were different.”

He was responding to a question related to the banned terrorist organisation Fitna-al Khawarij, previously called TTP, in Pakistan. The government has urged the Afghan government to not allow its land to be used as a launch pad for terrorist attacks and to stop its ideological twin from attacking Pakistan.

But the Afghan Taliban government has asked Pakistan to give evidence for such claims.

According to Mushahid, “The people in Afghanistan may be people, but they are proud people. You have to understand that they are first Afghans and not your men.”

He was of the view that Pakistan did not have “strategic clarity” on the TTP. Mushahid suggested “three tracks” to address the situation: regional approach, high-level political and strategic dialogue with the Afghan Taliban regime, and a counter-terrorism strategy.

When asked about former prime minister Imran Khan’s decision not to talk with anyone, he said that it depended on the government as ex-PM Nawaz Sharif did in his tenure to form a judicial commission on Khan’s request for a probe into election results.

“The government should implement Supreme Court decisions. I say that all political prisoners, including Imran Khan, should be released,” Mushahid said.

In response to a question of whether the PTI blocked the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, the PML-N senator said that “incompetence and some irresponsible statements” from the then ministers and the political class affected the corridor project and led to concerns among the investors.

He went on to add that Khan later realised the impact and made two visits to China in his last tenure. The former prime minister on a Russia visit described China as Pakistan’s “role model”, Mushahid said.

The PML-N senator added that Pakistan’s relationship with Iran has “very much” improved over the years as the cooperation between the two countries’ intelligence has increased.

He stated that the new Iranian government has prioritised increasing ties with the neighbouring countries and “China is the best friend of Pakistan and Iran.”

When he called for restarting the gas pipeline project and trade with Iran, the host asked how it would be possible amid the US sanctions. To this, Mushahid asked did India faced such a situation after signing an agreement on Chabahar port and other trade.

“We are afraid of US sanctions and we should end it. We are afraid of the US. We should make decisions for the benefit of the region and it will change the destiny of people. The US cannot do anything,” he said and added that the country should show “some strength” to take bold decisions.

He went on to add that India should change its “attitude and end killings in the occupied Jammu and Kashmir”. The senator added that the world cannot have peace until disputes and conflicts are resolved.

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According to Mushahid, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi faced defeat in elections as he won less number of seats than in the last election.

“Modi has been cut down to size and this is his last tenure. The next PM is Rahul Gandhi. We have the benefit that we have to get strategic space, the Afghan war has been ended after 45 years, Saudi Arabia-Iran relations have been normalised, and CPEC is reviving,” he said.

While suggesting the way forward, Mushahid said: “Improve your matters and give a healing touch.”