In his virtual address to the United Nations General Assembly on Friday, September 24, Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan said former US President Ronald Reagan compared the “Afghan mujahedin” to the founding fathers of the United States.

Imran Khan apparently inadvertently conceded that Pakistan, along with the United States, was responsible for training radical Islamists in Afghanistan. “Pakistan and the United States have trained Mujahedin groups to fight for the liberation of Afghanistan. Among those Mujahedin groups was Al Qaeda, various groups around the world. There were Mujahedin, Afghan Mujahedin. These were considered heroes. President Ronald Regan invited them to the White House in 1983. And according to a news story, he compared them to the founding fathers of the United States. They were heroes, ”he said.

What an international embarrassment that too at #UNGA forum this time. US President RonaldRegan has NEVER compared the “Mujahedin” to the founding fathers. It’s a FAKE NEWS. PM Khan refers to a false “news item” to launch 🇵🇰case on such a prestigious forum! Who wrote Prime Minister Khan’s speech? Return it. pic.twitter.com/UaSLOOkeea

– Gharidah Farooqi (@GFarooqi) September 25, 2021

The video of the Pakistani prime minister making false and scandalous statements at an international forum has gone viral on social media. On Saturday September 25, Pakistani journalist Gharidah Farooqi called the misstep an “international embarrassment” and “fake news”. She remarked: “PM Khan is referring to a bogus ‘news item’ to start a business in such a prestigious forum! Who wrote Prime Minister Khan’s speech? Send it back. “

what is the truth?

Human rights activist Saleem Javed also pointed out that Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan quoted a video out of context and cut to claim that US President Ronald Reagan drew analogies between the Afghan mujahedin and the founding fathers of the United States. He had also posted the original music video which was recorded on March 2, 1985. Ronald Reagan had made the remarks at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference.

Here is the original video of US President Ronald Reagan that Prime Minister Imran Khan referred to. pic.twitter.com/edwawDn2Sh

– Saleem Javed (@mSaleemJaved) September 25, 2021

Contrary to Imran Khan’s assertions, the former US president was talking about overthrowing the Nicaraguan government by supporting the rebels. He announced $ 14 million in aid for the Nicaraguan rebels and called them equivalent to the founding fathers of the United States, not the Afghan mujahedin. Although Reagan frequently calls the Afghan Mujahedin “freedom fighters,” he does not draw the same conclusion as the Nicaraguan rebels.

“I recently spoke about Nicaraguan freedom fighters. You know the truth about them, you know who they are fighting against and why. They are the moral equal of our Founding Fathers and the brave men and women of the French Resistance. We cannot turn away from it. Because the fight here is not the right against the left, but the right against the evil ”, declared the former American president.

The transcript of the comments of the former US president can be found in the archives of The New York Times.

Imran Khan’s supporters defend him, come up with bizarre theories

Despite the demystification of the false information spread by the Pakistani head of state, supporters of Imran Khan continued to defend the disinformation and their leader. One Shahid Pervaiz said: “IK made these comments in a larger context, but here some people are masters of the twist of things in either case, they were supported and funded by the freedom fighters! In a way, you call the “Nicaraguan rebels” as “the founding fathers of the United States” and the mujahedin as “freedom fighters”! “

Another Pakistani Twitter user came up with his own theory. He wrote, “He congratulated them both in the same speech and if anyone had asked him to clarify whether the Mujahedin were also equal to the Nicaraguan rebels when it came to their association with the Founding Fathers, I have no doubt that ‘he would have answered in the affirmative. Rest is semantic!

Another supporter of Imran Khan alleged, “But Prime Minister Khan’s larger point – that the United States supported the Mujahedin – is 100% true. The United States viewed them in the same way as the Nicaraguan rebels – two groups fighting communism. In addition, the comment of the “founding fathers” was a continuous sentence after mentioning Afghan and then Nicaraguan.

Earlier, citing a senior Pakistani official, Reuters reported that the Pakistanis had decided to send security and intelligence officials, including the head of the powerful Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agency, to Afghanistan to assist the Taliban to reorganize their army. Pakistan intended to help radical Islamic training to reorganize its army and also provide the necessary training to the Taliban, composed largely of Pashtun fighters trained in Pakistani madrasas.