Pakistan seeks Afghan settlement before foreign troops' withdrawal.

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan Friday said Pakistan is pushing for a political settlement in Afghanistan before foreign troops leave later this year, to reduce the risk of civil war in its western neighbour.

The United States has said it will withdraw all its troops from Afghanistan on Sept. 11 after a two-decade presence. More than 20 allied countries plan to follow suit.

"There is a lot of fear right now in Pakistan and I assure you that we are trying our level best that there is some sort of political settlement before the Americans leave," Khan told Reuters at his official residence in Islamabad. "Since the moment the Americans gave a date, of when they were going to leave Afghanistan ... the Taliban feel they have won the war," Khan said, adding it was not going to be easy to get concessions from the Taliban after US decision.

Khan said Pakistan would suffer the most, after Afghanistan itself, if there was civil war and a refugee crisis. "And then there would be pressure on us to jump in and become a part of it," he said, adding that his government has changed Pakistan's decades-long policy of pushing for 'strategic depth' in Afghanistan to ensure that there was a friendly government there. "Any Afghan government chosen by the people is who Pakistan should deal with," he said, adding that Pakistan 'should not try to do any manipulation in Afghanistan'. He said a lot depends on US special envoy Zalmay Khalilzad, with Pakistan's and Afghanistan's help, to carve out a settlement to avoid more bloodshed.

Imran Khan said that Pakistan is ready to restart talks with arch-rival India if Delhi provides a roadmap towards restoring the previous status of the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir. "If there is a roadmap, then, yes, we will talk," he said. "Even if they give us a roadmap, that these are the steps that we will take to basically undo what they did, which is illegal, against international law and United Nations resolutions... then that is acceptable," he said.

Khan said he has always wanted a 'civilised' and 'open' relationship with India. "It is common sense that if you want to reduce poverty in the subcontinent, the best way is to trade with each other," he said, referring to the example of the European Union.

He said India has crossed a 'red line' by revoking the autonomy of its part of Kashmir. "They have to come back for us to resume dialogue," he said, adding, "at the moment there is no response from India".

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