Pakistani intelligence service real winner in Taliban return

Chicago (special for Infobae) – In the Aabpara district of Islamabad, the Pakistani capital, a complex of buildings rises between manicured lawns and water fountains. The architecture is Islamic rationalist without any grandeur. But crossing the walls of this bucolic landscape he finds himself the real power behind the Taliban who have just regained power in neighboring Afghanistan. These are the offices of ISI (Inter-Services Intelligence) Pakistan’s intelligence service, considered the most efficient and sophisticated in Central Asia. This week there were celebrations and various congratulations there.

From this “compound” still “directed and manipulated” the Taliban Afghans according to Pakistan’s geopolitical interests. It happened in the mid-1990s, when they helped organize students from madrassas (Koranic schools) on the border between the two countries to arm an effective militia that eventually took control of Kabul between 1996 and 2001, this happened during the years of resistance against the American invasion, and it is now starting again with the lightning offensive that brought Islamist extremists back to power. If it is necessary to look for a real winner of the Afghan war, it is the ISI (and the Pakistani government as a whole, of course).

Evidence of the Taliban’s support across the Hindu Kush mountain range was seen hours after the Taliban captured Kabul, his white flag with a verse from the Quran printed in black flew atop a central mosque in Islamabad. It was a gesture of contempt for the defeated Americans. But it was also a clear sign of who the real victors in the Afghan 20-Year War are.

Pakistan is seen as an ally of the United States in the war on terror. His army has benefited from tens of billions of dollars in American aid over the past two decades, even when everyone knew that much of the money was going down the drain of corruption. And it happened as Pakistani intelligence, closely linked to the military, fed and protected the Taliban. Over the past three months, it was evident that these soldiers have allowed new fighters to cross the border from sanctuaries in the interior of Pakistan. Pashtun tribal leaders directly thanked ISI for protecting its militias who fought alongside the Taliban.

“The Pakistanis and, in particular, the ISI, are convinced that it was they who gave the impetus for the triumph in Afghanistan. But this it can be a double edged sword. Those same Taliban who are now on the other side of the border, at any time, they might want to come through and fight on Pakistani soil. Or worse, if the Afghan Taliban become the rulers of a pariah state, which is likely, Pakistan will find itself tied to them“This is the analysis carried out on MSNBC television by Robert Grenier, a former head of the CIA bureau in Pakistan.

At the same time, while the United States will continue to support Pakistan in maintain the stability of your nuclear arsenal and to stop the arms race in the region, with his departure from Afghanistan, he no longer has the same motivations to continue collaborating with the army in Islamabad. It is also true that its most important global rivals, China and Russia, are already aligned with the Pakistanis and the Taliban and that will occupy much of Washington’s international political attention.

A Pakistani protégé, Khalil Haqqani, a Taliban leader who regularly visited the Pakistani army headquarters in Rawalpindi, is one of the new rulers of Afghanistan. Known to the U.S. Secret Service as the Taliban leader closest to the Al Qaeda terrorist network, Haqqani appeared in Kabul last week as the new security chief. And he did it by showing a truly provocative image: he was armed with an American-made M4 rifle and he was accompanied by a protective squad dressed in American combat team.

The head of the Pakistani army, Qamar Javed Bajwa and ISI Chief Hameed Faiz have met with Haqqani regularly, in their residences in the historic towns of Peshawar and Rawalpindi. The extended Haqqani family is known to have long lived in the tribal areas of Pakistan, along the Afghan border, which is a self-governing territory. “General Bajwa was pressured by the United States to hand over Khalil Haqqani and two other chiefs of his clan, and all the time Bajwa was saying: “Tell us where they are”Douglas London wrote, in his memoirs of his years as a CIA agent. “My favorite quote from Bajwa is when he told Washington envoys: “You just have to come to my office and we’ll go by helicopter to pick you up””.

During the war, The Americans tolerated the Pakistani double game because they believed they had no other choice: it was a chaotic war in Afghanistan or facing a Pakistan with nuclear weapons. In addition, that country’s ports and airports were the main entry points and supply lines for US military equipment needed on the Afghan side. They had a clear policy of defending their interests, and among these there had never been a strong American military presence on their border, an autonomous Afghanistan with a democratic government it could not control, or an army. strong and centralized Afghan. Everything was under its diplomatic north since the creation of the state in 1948: create a sphere of influence to block his nemesis, India.

“The Pakistani military believed that Afghanistan brought strategic depth to its attempt against India, which is its obsession,” Bruce Riedel, former South Asia adviser to the Bush administrations, told The New York Times. and Obama. “The United States encouraged India, after the 2001 invasion, to support the pro-Western Afghan government, which fueled the paranoia of the Pakistani army”.

The issue was part of talks between the parties during a visit to Washington three months ago by Moeed Yusuf, the national security adviser to Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan. Yusuf stressed the need to eliminate Indian presence in Afghanistan. When Indian diplomats were among the first foreigners to be evacuated from Kabul, their departure was interpreted in the Pakistani press as a singular victory.

pakistani secret service authorized to do or directly collaborated with Haqqani and his network of militiamen which were the key to the Taliban regaining power. Shelters have been erected in the border area, particularly around the town of Quetta, for black-turbaned combatants and their families. Also Peshawar, the first Pakistani city when crossing the historic Khyber pass, and Karachi, in the south, where the network controls several hospitals. And all of this mixed with large businesses operated by the Haqqanis, from drug trafficking to real estate speculation and mosque tithing. The Web operated under the protection of ISI agents and their coverage was. Pakistani secret agents have always avoided getting involved in direct fighting so as not to give the United States arguments that could harm the entire organization or the supply of arms and money to Washington.

The ISI has also provided the Taliban with legal cover to operate globally. Taliban leader Abdul Ghani Baradar traveled on Pakistani passport attend the peace talks in Doha, Qatar, and meet in Tianjin, Wang Yi, the Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs. “Definitely, the Afghan Taliban would not be where they are without the help of the Pakistanis”, Sajjan Gohel, director of international security at the Asia-Pacific Foundation in London, explained in an interview with the BBC.

Of course, it is one thing to gain power and another to exercise it. No one is sure that the Taliban have the ability to create a political elite and state bureaucracy rule Afghanistan and stay in the international system. The key will be in the management of the economy. Afghanistan is totally dependent on foreign aid. The United States has provided hundreds of millions of dollars a month to pay salaries and maintain a basic food distribution structure. Maybe China and Russia can supplant these funds. But it will be Pakistan which will hold in its hands the master key for any construction of power: the secret services will surely provide their expertise in matters of security and assist in the creation of professional armed forces.

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