US prefers India when it comes to forming a 'strategic partnership': Imran Khan

Islamabad: Taking a dig at the US, Prime Minister Imran Khan has said that Washington sees Pakistan as "useful" only for clearing the "mess" it has left behind in Afghanistan after 20 years of fighting and prefers India when it comes to forming a “strategic partnership”.

Afghanistan has seen an uptick in violence by the Taliban after US President Joe Biden's announcement of the withdrawal of American and NATO troops by August 31.

“Pakistan is just considered only to be useful in the context of somehow settling this mess which has been left behind after 20 years of trying to find a military solution when there was not one,” Khan told



foreign journalists at his home here on Wednesday.

Khan said that since the US decided to have a “strategic partnership” with India, Washington was treating Pakistan differently, according to a journalist present at the meeting.

Islamabad is unhappy that Biden has not spoken to Prime Minister Khan since he assumed the presidency in January. Pakistan's National Security Adviser Moeed Yusuf recently expressed disappointment over President Biden's reluctance to contact Prime Minister Khan despite considering Islamabad as an important country in some critical issues like Afghanistan.