The leader of the Pashtunkhwa Milli Awami Party says the United States and Europe prioritized their own interests over civilian lives during the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, using double standards on human rights that contributed to widespread loss of life.
As reported by IRAF, Mahmood Khan Achakzai, leader of the Pashtunkhwa Milli Awami Party and a prominent Pakistani political figure, has strongly criticized US and European policies toward Afghanistan and Iraq.
Referring to two decades of war and instability in the two countries, Achakzai said global powers had pursued their geopolitical interests at the cost of millions of lives and had never accepted responsibility for the humanitarian consequences of those conflicts.
Achakzai said, “The West speaks about human rights when its interests are not at risk,” arguing that human rights standards are neither consistent nor equally applied in the foreign policies of the United States and Europe, but instead change according to the interests of major powers.
He said this approach had left the people of Afghanistan and Iraq to bear the greatest costs of years of conflict.
The Pashtun politician added that major decisions made in Western capitals had shaped the fate of people across the region. Rather than creating security and stability, he said, those decisions had made Afghanistan’s social and political structures more vulnerable and intensified humanitarian crises.
Achakzai also stressed that the international community should assess the policies of major powers according to human rights standards in an equal and fair manner.
He warned that the continuation of double standards would not only deepen public mistrust but could also contribute to continued violence and instability in vulnerable countries.
According to Achakzai, millions of families in Afghanistan and Iraq are still struggling with the devastating consequences of past wars, while global powers continue to refuse to accept responsibility for the resulting human losses.
