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Imran Khan: “The Poster Boy for Populism"
Weeks after a chaotic general election, Pakistan’s political parties still struggle to form a coalition to move the country forward. GZERO’s Tony Maciulis sat down with Pakistan’s former Foreign Minister Hina Khar at the Munich Security Conference for her take on how the nation’s imprisoned ex-Prime Minister Imran Khan maintains a hold over supporters and remains a powerful political force.
Independent candidates mostly aligned with Khan’s political party, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), won the most votes on February 8, though they fell short of a majority, setting off a power struggle between Khan and his political rival, former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.
Comparing Khan to former US President Donald Trump and India’s leader Narendra Modi, Khar said, “He really represents what populist leaders are all about. He’s able to get everybody to rally around what all is wrong and the great injustices. However, when he comes to power, he doesn’t have any to plan to sort it out.”
Khar explained that Khan’s popularity flows from his ability to tap into the frustrations of his base, who are deeply concerned about rising costs of living, including food and energy prices.
While she hopes the political parties will be able to come to a resolution that respects the voters' mandate, Khar says “the jury is out” about whether Khan will ultimately bow out of the process.
Khar also addressed the ongoing tensions between Pakistan and neighboring India. In a past interview with GZERO, she had described India as a “rogue nation,” a claim she stood by once again in Munich. Modi’s popularity, she said, “is based on anti-Muslim, anti-Islam” sentiments that resonate with Hindu nationalist supporters.
Hina Khar: Pakistan must solve its domestic problems and step back from a global role
With Washington ready to downgrade its relationship with Islamabad, Pakistan's PM Imran Khan, looking to form new friendships to protect Pakistan's strategic interests visited Moscow as Russian forces invaded Ukraine. In a GZERO World interview, Ian Bremmer talks to Pakistan’s former Foreign Minister, Hina Khar, about Afghanistan, Pakistan’s future choices, and India.
Khar argues that the West needs to accept its responsibility for starving Afghans. Military interventions like the US-led war in Afghanistan, she adds, cast a “deep shadow on the entire democratic value system.” She also thinks that the best way to help end the humanitarian crisis is to talk to the Taliban.
Pakistan's former top diplomat believes Pakistan should focus on its domestic problems like reducing Pakistan's huge dependence on foreign aid, build on its strengths, and secure its borders from threats from Afghanistan. “Our first role should be to our own people,” she states.
Khar, who previously called India a “rogue state” and a bully in the neighborhood, elaborates on India’s undemocratic gestures like the Citizenship Amendment Act and the end of autonomy for Indian-controlled Kashmir, a Muslim majority region long claimed by Pakistan.
The former Foreign Minister further explains that India's anti-deomocratic trends are ignored by the West because "everything that is happening in our part of the world has to do with containment of China."
Watch the GZERO World episode: As democracy erodes: Pakistan’s Hina Khar on “supremely dangerous” global trends
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Talks with Taliban won’t legitimize them (US already did that)
Want the Taliban to form a more inclusive Afghan government? Talk to them. Otherwise, don't complain about millions of starving Afghans.
That's the advice of Hina Khar, Pakistan's former foreign minister, to Western nations who say they don't want to "enable" the regime.
Khar told Ian Bremmer in a GZERO World interview at the 2022 Munich Security Conference that dialogue with the Taliban won't legitimize their human rights abuses and oppression of women. The US already did that - by inviting the group to the negotiating table in Doha.
What's more, she said, the Americans have not really exited Afghanistan because they're still holding onto the Afghan government's cash reserves.
Watch the GZERO World episode: As democracy erodes: Pakistan’s Hina Khar on “supremely dangerous” global trends
Pakistan’s Hina Khar: India’s policies are undemocratic
The last time Ian Bremmer and Hina Khar met at the Munich Security Conference, in 2020, she called India a “rogue state” and a bully in the neighborhood.
Two years later, she argues that the Indian government has proven her right with undemocratic gestures like the Citizenship Amendment Act.
“Basically, you're saying everybody who is Hindu has the right to be an Indian citizen, and anyone who's Muslim has the least right, and anyone in the middle, we'll think about it,” Khar said.
“This is not a liberal India,” she added.
What's more, Khar points out, India is also endangering regional politics as a member of the Quad, whose sole purpose according to Khar is to contain China.
"India today can get away with murder, and the West would look away.”
Watch the GZERO World episode: As democracy erodes: Pakistan’s Hina Khar on “supremely dangerous” global trends
Pakistan's pivot towards Russia
Russia's invasion of Ukraine has left Moscow isolated through US-led sanctions and economic boycotts. Still, the Kremlin does have friends.
One of them is China. Another is Belarus. And now Vladimir Putin has a new country in his camp: Pakistan.
As Russian forces pummeled Ukraine, Pakistan's PM Imran Khan visited Moscow to discuss a new gas pipeline. Khan says he wants peace, but his trip did not go down well in Washington, Ian Bremmer explains on GZERO World.
Pakistan and the US have been allies for many years, with Islamabad playing a crucial war in both the Global War on Terror and the war in Afghanistan. But bilateral ties have soured lately.
Joe Biden has yet to call Khan since assuming the US presidency, while the Americans resent Khan for praising the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan.
With the US ready to downgrade its relationship with Islamabad, Khan is looking to form new friendships to protect Pakistan's strategic interests.
Watch the GZERO World episode: As democracy erodes: Pakistan’s Hina Khar on “supremely dangerous” global trends
Pakistan suffered from global role; should focus domestically, says former top diplomat
Pakistan has long punched above its weight in global politics. Yet, former Foreign Minister Hina Khar said her country has gained little from it.
That's why she'd like to see Pakistan taking a step back from the global stage to focus on its mounting domestic challenges.
“Our first role should be to our own people,” Khar told Ian Bremmer in a GZERO World interview at the 2022 Munich Security Conference.
For instance, she thinks it's time to concentrate on issues like reducing Pakistan's huge dependence on foreign aid.
“You know a country which is dependent on the IMF largesse does not really want to have an over-projected role in the world,” Khar said. "Our first role should be to our own people.”
Watch the GZERO World episode: As democracy erodes: Pakistan’s Hina Khar on “supremely dangerous” global trends
US has set the stage for Afghanistan’s humanitarian disaster, says Hina Khar
Afghans are starving. Not just because the Taliban are now in charge, according to Pakistan's former top diplomat.
“Of course, people are talking about the starving Afghan people who need our help,” Hina Khar told Ian Bremmer in a GZERO World interview at the 2022 Munich Security Conference. “But that's the white man's burden — not accepting what you did wrong in creating the situation that is starving the Afghans right now.”
Khar questioned whether democracies have propagated international values across the board for all nationalities, and whether the US would have invaded Afghanistan if as many American or European lives had been on the line.
Military interventions like the US-led war in Afghanistan, she added, cast a “deep shadow on the entire democratic value system.”
Watch the GZERO World episode: As democracy erodes: Pakistan’s Hina Khar on “supremely dangerous” global trends
As democracy erodes: Pakistan’s Hina Khar on “supremely dangerous” global trends
As Russian forces invaded Ukraine, Pakistan's PM Imran Khan, one of Vladimir Putin’s few friends these days, visited Moscow. His trip did not go down well in the US, a longtime ally of Islamabad.
On this episode of GZERO World, Ian Bremmer talks to Pakistan’s former Foreign Minister, Hina Khar, about Afghanistan, her country’s future choices, and, of course, India.
Khar argues that the West needs to accept its responsibility for starving Afghans. She also thinks that the best way to help end the humanitarian crisis is to talk to the Taliban.
Pakistan's former top diplomat also says it's time for her country to take a step back from the global stage to focus on fixing its own problems, and calls out India for its laws against Muslims and moves in Kashmir.
Bonus: as Ukraine fights back against the Russian war machine, ordinary citizens are taking up arms. We interview the leader of The Wolverines, a self-defense group just outside Kyiv.
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