WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - The United States pressured the Pakistani government to oust now-former Prime Minister Imran Khan over his neutral stance on Russia's special military operation in Ukraine, independent US media reported Wednesday, citing a classified Pakistani cable. The report indicated that US officials warned their Pakistani counterparts in a meeting on March 7, 2022 that bilateral relations with Pakistan would be jeopardized if Imran Khan remained in power. US Assistant Secretary of State for the Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs Donald Lu and then-Pakistani ambassador to the US Asad Majeed Khan were said to have taken part in the meeting.
“I think if the no-confidence vote against the Prime Minister succeeds, all will be forgiven in Washington because the Russia visit is being looked at as a decision by the Prime Minister,” Lu said, according to the document. “Otherwise...I think it will be tough going ahead.” The Biden administration was infuriated that Imran Khan went through with a planned visit to Moscow regardless of Russia launching its operation in Ukraine.
In the spring of 2022, while he was still prime minister, facing pressure from the US and the European Union to condemn Russia, Khan famously asked the West whether he thought Pakistan was its "slaves." "What do you think of us? Are we your slaves...that whatever you say, we will do?" the now former PM said at a rally. "I want to ask the European Union ambassadors: Did you write such a letter to India?"
Lu, according to the report released Wednesday, warned privately that if the situation involving Khan wasn’t resolved, Pakistan would be isolated by its Western allies.State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller, in response to the revelations, said he would not comment on private diplomatic discussions, but claimed that, “nothing in these purported comments shows the United States taking a position on who the leader of Pakistan should be.”
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