ISLAMABAD: Pakistani prime minister Imran Khan said in an interview published on Friday that if the Taliban took over Afghanistan by force, the country would not take military action against the insurgent group.

Khan was speaking to the New York Times via video call about the way forward for Pakistan in light of US forces leaving Afghanistan by September 11 this year. 

“Let me assure you, we will do everything except use military action against the Taliban,” Khan replied when asked what Pakistan would do if the Taliban took over Afghanistan by force. “I mean, we will do everything up to that. All sections of our society have decided that Pakistan will take no military action.”

“Now, we are fencing it, and almost 90 percent of the border, we’ve fenced now,” Khan added. “What if [the] Taliban try to take over Afghanistan through [the] military? Then we will seal the border, because now we can, because we have fenced our border, which was previously [open], because Pakistan does not want to get into, number one, conflict, secondly, we do not want another influx of refugees.”

Asked if Pakistan would recognize the Taliban if they carried out a full military takeover in Afghanistan, Khan said:

“Pakistan will only recognize a government which is chosen by the people of Afghanistan, whichever government they choose.”

He said after the US withdrawal, he wished that Pakistan and the US could fix their “lopsided” equation of the past. 

“What we want in the future is a relationship based on trust and common objectives,” he said. “That’s actually what we have right now with the US.”