Pakistan demands The Times clarification over Taliban story

 JournalismPakistan.com |  Published: 30 August 2021

ISLAMABAD—Through the Office of the National Security Adviser (NSA), the Pakistani government has demanded 'The Times' clarify and retract its misleading and frivolous interpretation of NSA Dr. Moeed Yusuf's interview with journalist Christina Lamb. 

According to the state-owned newswire APP, a formal demand that the story is immediately retracted and this clarification published has also been sent to the newspaper by the Pakistan High Commission in the United Kingdom.

In a press release, the NSA stated that a recent story, Work with the Taliban or Repeat the Horror of the 1990s, West Told, authored by Christina Lamb, was published in The Times on August 28, 2021. The said story has wrongly interpreted the viewpoint of Dr. Moeed Yusuf, it emphasized. 

The story's subtitle reads, "Risk a second 9/11 if you don't recognize Afghanistan's new leaders, Pakistan's national security adviser warns." This connotation was fabricated and wrongly attributed to the National Security Adviser (NSA), it said, adding that "It is a gross mischaracterization of the conversation that took place between Ms. Lamb and the NSA." 

Ms. Lamb interviewed the NSA on record in his office in Islamabad on Friday, August 27, 2021. At no point did Dr. Moeed state that the West should "immediately recognize" the Taliban, as the article states. Nor was there any "warning" of a second 9/11 linked to formal "recognition" of the Taliban.

This is a highly inflammatory mischaracterization of his remarks, one that smacks of unprofessional journalism.

It can cause significant harm to Pakistan's actual position and interests that are, in reality, aligned with the international community, with whom Pakistan continues to work as a partner in Afghanistan.

Pakistan categorically rejects the very obvious and deliberately sensational drift of the article's title and sub-title and misrepresentation on the issue of "recognition," which leads readers to a very different conclusion than what was said. They amount to twisting both the words and spirit of the NSA's remarks.

"We have also noted that the author of the article recorded the interview and is welcome to release the entire recording for the readers of the newspaper to hear for themselves the NSA's full remarks," the statement said.