Newly surfaced correspondence from the late US financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein has revealed that he viewed former Pakistani prime minister Imran Khan as a “major threat to peace,” describing him in harsh personal terms while acknowledging his influence as a “devout Muslim” with global appeal. The emails, released by the US House Oversight Committee, have triggered a wave of political debate in Pakistan, with many observers reading Epstein’s remarks as a backhanded acknowledgement of Khan’s ideological clarity and uncompromising political posture.
The exchange, dated 31 July 2018 — days after Khan’s electoral victory — shows Epstein expressing unusually strong views about the incoming Pakistani leader. In the leaked notes, Epstein places Khan above other global figures in terms of geopolitical impact, calling him “a greater threat to peace than Erdogan, Khomeini, Xi or Putin,” while in the same breath referring to him as a “devout Islamist” who wields unusual influence over public sentiment. The emails repeatedly reference Khan’s faith and public positioning, revealing a strong discomfort with what Epstein describes as Khan’s “ability to shape narratives.”
Political analysts in Islamabad note that the emails reflect less about Khan’s politics and more about Epstein’s anxieties toward leaders who carried moral or ideological conviction. Epstein, whose carefully curated social circles consisted largely of Western elites, appears unsettled by Khan’s religious identity, mass appeal, and outsider status — qualities that do not typically align with the kind of leadership Western power brokers favour. In this sense, many PTI supporters argue the leaked documents inadvertently validate Khan’s image as an independent-minded Muslim leader unaligned with Western influence.
The emails contain sweeping personal remarks as well. Epstein refers to Khan’s past marriage to Jemima Goldsmith, noting she was the daughter of someone he counted as a friend, and describes Khan as “incapable of truth” — a claim widely dismissed in Pakistan as the sort of ideological hostility Epstein displayed toward figures he perceived as unpredictable or too rooted in belief systems outside his own world.
Alongside the email disclosures, older social media rumours resurfaced alleging that Khan had once visited Epstein’s private island. Those claims were strongly rejected by former Pakistan cricket captain Wasim Akram, who publicly slammed posts attempting to tie Khan to the disgraced financier. Akram reiterated that while Khan and his friends had travelled by private jet to various locations during their cricketing days, any connection to Epstein’s wrongdoing was “fabricated nonsense,” urging people to stop spreading “lies.”
For Khan’s supporters, the resurfaced emails have become a talking point, with many arguing that Epstein’s discomfort stems from a worldview shaped by power, privilege and moral corruption — qualities that stand in stark contrast to Khan’s public image of piety and reform. In PTI circles, the leak is being framed as evidence that Western elites viewed Khan as a political force capable of challenging entrenched systems.
