Prime Minister Imran Khan has said that the United States has always used Pakistan for its purposes. “Whenever the US needed us, they established relations, and Pakistan became a frontline state, and then abandoned it and slapped sanctions on us” when its purposes were served, he regretted.

The premier expressed these views during an interview with Dr Eric Li, the director of the advisory committee of the China Institute at Fudan University. On Pak-US relations, he said there was a time when Pakistan had friendly relations with the US; and when Pakistan was no longer needed, the US distanced itself from it.

Later, he continued, friendly relations between the US and Pakistan were restored and Pakistan became a friend of the United States. “The US helped us at that time, but as soon as the Soviet Union left Afghanistan, the United States imposed sanctions on Pakistan.”