‘Pakistan Played Double Game’: US Officials Say Treating Pakistan As A Friend In Terror War Was “Critical Error”

In an extensive report titled ‘The Afghanistan Papers’, the Washington Post reveals that the US officials in the Bush and Obama administrations believe that the treatment of “Pakistan as a friend” in the country’s trillion-dollar 18-year-long Afghanistan war was a “critical error”, reports The Print.

The reports contains confidential US government papers containing around 2,000 pages of previously unpublished notes of interviews with US generals and diplomats who were key decision makers along with aid workers and Afghan officials who played a direct role in the conflict.

As per the report, US officials admit that even after receiving aid in billions of dollars and advanced weapons, Pakistan never supported America and was “playing a double game in the conflict as early as 2002.”

After the 9/11 terror attacks and the subsequent acquiescence of Pakistan to join the “war against terror”, it still covertly supported the Taliban, Haqqani Network and the al-Qaeda leadership by providing safe havens and logistics support.

What is most damaging element is that senior US officials failed to tell the truth about the Afghan war in the last 18 years and even after knowing that the war had become unwinnable, they continued making false claims and pronouncements.

Notably, more than 2,300 US troops have died in this 18 year old war and over 20,000 wounded according to the US Defence Department figures. Additionally, several thousand veterans suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).