‘Like a toilet paper’: Pakistan Minister Khawaja Asif's bold admission on how the US exploited and abandoned Islamabad

Pakistan’s Defence Minister Khawaja Asif has accused the US of exploiting Islamabad for its strategic interests and then discarding it “like a toilet paper”.

Speaking in Parliament, Asif is heard saying in the video that Islamabad’s decision to once again align with Washington after 1999, particularly in relation to Afghanistan, inflicted lasting damage on the country.

Asif accused Pakistan's late military dictators Zia-ul-Haq and Pervez Musharraf of entangling the country in external wars, leaving it to absorb the fallout long after its allies moved on.

"I was listening to Hillary Clinton's speech. She has explained everything on how they exploited Pakistan. Its a landmark speech. And it says how they used us as tissue paper, in fact, as toilet paper. Still we did not learn anything..." Asif said, describing the pursuit of US backing as a grave miscalculation whose consequences Pakistan continues to bear decades later.

The Pakistani minister also termed Islamabad's involvement in two Afghan wars 'a mistake,' saying that the terrorism in Pakistan today was the blowback of past mistakes.

Asif was basically speaking about how the costs of realigning with the US after 1999, particularly following the September 11, 2001, attacks, were devastating

Asif noted Islamabad again aligned itself with Washington in the US-led Afghan war in the post-2001 period, turning against the Taliban in the process. The minister said that while the United States eventually withdrew from the region, Pakistan was left grappling with prolonged violence, radicalisation and economic strain.

‘Jihad was misused’

Asif also disagreed with the popular perception that Pakistan's involvement in the Afghan conflicts was driven by religious or Islamic reasons. He acknowledged that Pakistanis were sent to fight under the banner of jihad, calling that framing misleading and deeply damaging.

"We deny our history and do not accept our mistakes. Terrorism is a blowback of the mistakes committed by dictators in the past," the minister said.

US-led war in Afghanistan

Pakistan has played a central — and often controversial — role in every major US military intervention in Afghanistan over the past four decades. Its involvement spans from the anti-Soviet jihad of the 1980s to the post-9/11 war on terror and the US withdrawal in 2021.

After the 9/11 attacks, Pakistan became a pivotal — and deeply contested — player in the US.-led war in Afghanistan. Its role combined frontline cooperation with Washington and persistent allegations of backing Afghan insurgent networks.