Prime Minister Imran Khan on Tuesday said the war on terror fought over the last 20 years was a ‘self-inflicted wound’ as the decision to join the Afghan war was not made in the public interest but for ‘dollars.’

He was addressing officers of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs during his visit for “successfully” organising the 17th extraordinary session of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation’s Council of Foreign Ministers last Sunday to address a looming humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan. Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi and other high officials of the ministry were present on the occasion.

“War on terror fought over the last 20 years was a self-inflicted wound for Pakistan because I was near to decision-makers. Those considerations were not Pakistan’s people,” he said.

“In the ’80s joining the Afghan war, the aim was dollars, not the public interest. And this led to our own cycle. We allowed ourselves to be used. We are responsible for our downfall. We sacrificed our country’s reputation.”

The premier alleged the stakeholders made the country’s foreign policy against the people for the sake of money. “When you make such decisions, when you deviate from your principles and take materialistic decisions, it will happen. It’s like curing cancer with disprin.”

He was of the view the country should not blame anyone for the “wrong decisions” taken in the past.

However, he claimed that over the last three years, such an image has been changed as the world’s attitude towards Pakistan was now different.

“I won’t say we are out of woods. But our image has improved and it reflected in the OIC CFM like the world states stood with us,” he said, adding that things the country wanted were achieved in the meeting

Furthermore, the PM lauded the nation’s mettle to face different testing times in the country’s history and stressed the need for the inculcation of ‘self-belief.’

“When you instil self-belief in yourself as a nation, you can achieve marvels. When the earthquake hit the country (during 2005), the whole nation was mobilized and during floods (of 2010), the nation contributed, which reflected that the nation had the capability to always stand the tests of time,” he said.

With input from APP