Khan, who has often criticised Pakistan’s decision to join in the two-decades war, claimed that he was close to the decision-makers in 2001 when the then military ruler, General Pervez Musharraf, decided to become part of the ‘war on terror’

Prime Minister Imran Khan has expressed regret for Pakistan’s participation in US’ 20-year-long “war on terror” in Afghanistan, saying that the country joined only for “dollars” and not in the “public intertest.”

While addressing the officers of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Islamabad, Khan said, “And so, I am well aware of what considerations there were behind the decision. Unfortunately, the people of Pakistan were not a consideration.”

“The considerations, instead, were the same as in the 1980s, when we participated in the Afghan jihad,” he said while referring to the Soviet-Afghan war.

Imran Khan, who has often criticised Pakistan’s decision to join in the two-decades war, claimed that he was close to the decision-makers in 2001 when the then military ruler, General Pervez Musharraf, decided to become part of the ‘war on terror’.

Terming the war a “self-inflicting wound” for Pakistan, the prime minister said, "We cannot blame anyone else for this outcome (of the decision)."

“We ourselves are responsible ... as we let [others] use us, sacrificed the reputation of our country for aid and made a foreign policy that went against the public interest [and was devised] for money,” he said.

On the Afghanistan situation, Khan said that “a big atrocity on the human level that a man-made crisis is being created” in the strife-torn country.

“Even when it is known that unfreezing Afghanistan's accounts and (infusing) liquidity (into the country’s banking system) will avert the crisis,” he said.

He added that Pakistan would continue to provide assistance to Afghanistan in difficult times.