Khawaja Asif says US used Pakistan 'worse than toilet paper,' admits long-term damage

Pakistan’s Defence Minister Khawaja Asif has strongly criticised the United States for what he described as exploiting Islamabad for strategic gains and abandoning it once its objectives were achieved, telling Parliament that Pakistan was treated “worse than toilet paper.”

Addressing lawmakers, Asif reflected on Pakistan’s repeated alignment with Washington, particularly after 1999 in connection with Afghanistan, and said those decisions had caused long-term damage that the country continues to face.

He described the pursuit of US backing as a serious miscalculation whose consequences have stretched across decades. “Pakistan was treated worse than a toilet paper and was used for a purpose and then thrown away,” he said in Parliament.

Khwaja Asif admits in Parliament that Pakistan rented itself out to the U.S. for war and was later discarded “like toilet paper”. Afghanistan was destroyed by policies now openly acknowledged in parliament. Millions suffered. Generations were lost. The world cannot look away now… pic.twitter.com/aEQjrm16ME

— Mariam Solaimankhil (@Mariamistan) February 10, 2026

Challenging long-standing official narratives, the defence minister rejected claims that Pakistan’s involvement in the Afghanistan conflict was driven by religious duty. He admitted that Pakistanis were mobilised and sent to fight under the banner of jihad, calling the framing misleading and destructive.

Asif said the country’s education system was also reshaped to legitimise these wars, adding that several ideological changes introduced at the time remain embedded to this day.

Referring to the anti-Soviet war in Afghanistan during the 1980s, he argued that the conflict was dictated by American geopolitical interests rather than any genuine religious imperative, insisting that the circumstances never warranted a declaration of jihad.

The defence minister noted that Pakistan’s participation in conflicts that were not its own had produced long-term instability and caused severe social damage that has yet to be fully undone.

He also spoke about the impact of Pakistan’s realignment with the US after the September 11, 2001 attacks, describing the costs as devastating. Asif accused former military rulers Zia-ul-Haq and Pervez Musharraf of entangling Pakistan in external wars, leaving the country to absorb the fallout long after its allies moved on.

Referring to the post-2001 period, he said Pakistan turned against the Taliban to support the US-led war on terror, only for Washington to eventually withdraw while Pakistan remained mired in violence, radicalisation and economic strain.

The defence minister blamed the United States for much of the instability the country continues to face as a result of siding with Washington during that period.

“The losses we suffered can never be compensated,” Asif said, describing those decisions as irreversible mistakes that reduced Pakistan to a pawn in conflicts driven by others.