DER SPIEGEL: Who you would prefer to work with?
Khan: What we really want from the U.S. is evenhanded treatment with respect to India, especially with the dispute in Kashmir. The region is a hotspot, it could flare up at any time. That's why we expect the U.S., as the strongest country in the world, to be even handed, whoever becomes president. The U.S. thinks India will contain China, which is a completely flawed premise. India is a threat to its neighbors, to China, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and to us. It has the most extremist, racist government on the subcontinent. It is a fascist state, inspired by the Nazis in the 1920s and '30s.
Imran Khan (holding the flag) after Pakistan won the cricket World Cup in 1992: "I had to do a lot of out-of-the-box thinking."
Foto: Steve Holland / AP
DER SPIEGEL: That is a rather extreme comparison. Are you not exaggerating?
Khan: Read the writings of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the intellectual forerunner of Prime Minister* Narendra Modi's party. They openly admired Hitler. The Nazis wanted to get rid of the Jews. The RSS wanted to rid India of the Muslims.