Did The US Government Have A Role In The Removal Of Former Pakistan PM Imran Khan?

Did the US Government have a role in the removal of former Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan? Some think so. The Intercept claims that US State Department, led by Antony Blinken, encouraged the Pakistani Government to remove Imran Khan as Prime Minister due to his neutrality on the Russian Invasion of Ukraine.

The source of this claim is a classified Pakistani government document obtained by The Intercept. On August 5, Khan was sentenced to three years in prison on corruption charges. Khan’s supporters call the charges baseless. The sentence blocks Khan from contesting elections expected in Pakistan later this year.

One month after the meeting with U.S. officials documented in the leaked Pakistani government document, a no-confidence vote was held in Parliament, leading to Khan’s removal from power. Since then, Khan and his supporters have been engaged in a struggle with the military and its civilian allies.

Khan claims that his removal was engineered at the request of the US. While it is very possible that the US is being used as a scapegoat because of its world hegemony, the US has had undesirable foreign leaders removed before.

The US State Department has repeatedly denied that the US urged the Pakistani government to oust Khan. In the wake of protests and riots, the Pakistani military has given itself authoritarian powers. These powers reduce civil liberty, criminalize criticism of the military, and give military leaders a permanent veto over political and civil affairs.

While Khan’s removal has no doubt destabilized Pakistan, we have yet to see proof that the US requested it. Did the US Government have a role in the removal of former Pakistan PM Imran Khan? We might not know for sure for a long time.