Just as Pakistan and Afghanistan started warming up to each other following months of mutual recrimination and tension, British media has outed a secret Nato document that can potentially blight relations again between the two neighbours.
The timing of the leaked report coincides with a visit to Kabul by Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar aimed at mending ties strained by last year’s assassination of top Afghan peace negotiator Burhanuddin Rabbani.
The report – leaked to The Times newspaper and the BBC – blamed Pakistan’s security services for ‘secretly aiding Afghanistan’s Taliban,’ who assume their victory is inevitable once Western troops leave.
Compiled from information gleaned from insurgent detainees, the report was given to Nato commanders in Afghanistan last month, media reports said.
The ‘State of the Taliban’ document claims that Pakistan’s premier spy agency the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), is ‘intimately involved’ with the insurgency.
The BBC said that the report was based on material from 27,000 interrogations of more than 4,000 captured Taliban and al Qaeda operatives.
“Pakistan’s manipulation of the Taliban senior leadership continues unabatedly,” the report was quoted as saying.
Taliban captives revealed how Islamabad was using a web of intermediaries and spies to provide strategic advice to the Taliban on fighting Western coalition troops.
“The government of Pakistan remains intimately involved with the Taliban,” the report states again.
“ISI is thoroughly aware of Taliban activities and the whereabouts of senior Taliban personnel. Senior Taliban leaders meet regularly with ISI personnel, who advise on strategy and relay any pertinent concerns of the government of Pakistan,” it added. “ISI officers tout the need for continued jihad and expulsion of foreign invaders from Afghanistan.”
However, there was little evidence from the detainees that Islamabad was providing funding or weaponry.
The Times quoted the report as saying the Taliban’s “strength, motivation, funding and tactical proficiency remains intact”, despite setbacks in 2011.
“Many Afghans are already bracing themselves for an eventual return of the Taliban,” it said. “Once (Nato force) Isaf is no longer a factor, Taliban consider their victory inevitable.”
Pentagon says ‘no comment’
The US Department of Defence said it could not comment on the report but set out its fears about Pakistan and its influence in Afghanistan.
“We have not seen the report, and therefore cannot offer comment on it specifically,” Pentagon spokesman George Little told AFP. “We have long been concerned about ties between elements of the ISI and some extremist networks.”
The report said there had been unprecedented interest in joining the Taliban cause in 2011 – even from members of the Afghan government.
“Afghan civilians frequently prefer Taliban governance over the Afghan government, usually as a result of government corruption,” it was reported as saying.
It said the Taliban were deliberately going soft in some areas to encourage Nato troops to leave faster, while doing local deals with the Afghan forces who take over.
Some in the Afghan security forces collaborated with the Taliban, selling arms and sharing intelligence, the report said.
Taliban call it ‘rumours’
The Taliban dismissed the Nato report as ‘rumours’.
“We have been hearing such rumours for the past 10 years. These are used as a propaganda tool,” their spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid told The Express Tribune in an email response to a query.
“We categorically reject the Nato report,” Mujahid said. “Our Jihad continues with the support of the Afghan people,” he added.“We will inflict a defeat on the enemy with the help of Allah Almighty.”
(Read: A thaw in Pak-Afghan ties?)
(with additional reporting by Tahir Khan in Islamabad)
Published in The Express Tribune, February 2nd, 2012.
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@BruteForce: Why should we attack Haqqanis? They are patriotic Pakistani citizens as any one of us and never harmed us. No We will never attack them. Keep whining.
Morever if your justification of attack is that USA wants it, well they are now in peace talks with talibans, opened office in Qatar, remember Joe Biden's statement?
@ashok sai: Do you have any ground idea of realities of Pakistan? - Stop such nonsense
The very fact that Pakistan has refused to act against the Haqqani network in North Waziristan proves the fact that Pakistan is helping the Taliban.Report is just a formal approval of it.
The funny thing is Pakistanis cant seem to digest this simple fact.
Pakistan just can't keep on denying. Its better to admit mistakes and move on otherwise one day will come when western patience will exhaust and they will have no option but to cross the borders deep into Pakistan to settle issues directly.
Didnt America say that their real enemy is Al Qaeda and not Taliban? If that is the case, then why do they have problems with ISI talking to them? Its clearly a case of being left out of the dialogue process which US doesnt like.
But we have to stay friends with the US
A disgusting move to create a conflict by the organization which is supposed to maintain peace in the world. This is the true picture of NATO. Even if this report is true, then we strongly back this move. After all every country is looking after its own interest is supreme. Why shouldn't we?
Long Live Pakistan Army.ISI and Mujahideen......Death to the Westoxicated scum in Pakistan which wants to keep Pakistan enslaved to the western white-trash.
The older the wine, the better it is , Isnt it.
Way the things are going, Talibanisation of Pakistan seems inevitable.
Plausible deniability is a tool that Pakistan learned from their masters the US, and have mastered it themselves.
Wow such for Pakistan's western "friends"!
Yawn. The whole world knows that this has been going on for a long time.
So finally, the real purpose of the leak comes to view. It is to undermine the bilateral initiaive that Pakistan and Afghanistan are taking (which excludes America). The Americans and the Brits obviously didn't like this and they are using the media to stoke distrust. Well played Sir!
This report is credible like the one which somehow proved presence of WMDs in Iraq. Intelligence agencies have ties with every one to get useful information, its not strange at all. The same media never commented about the dialogue process between US & Talibans. Ofcourse they have ties with each other through which message about dialogue process was exchanged. Such reports are being used to through the responsibility of failure of western forces on Pakistan. Lets suppose it is true then SALUTE to ISI because it is due to their professional commitment that whole world's forces and intelligence agencies failed miserably in Afghanistan.
Interesting to see who is coming for the rescue of ISI. Has ISPR been outsourced?
Yeah , we all know how reliable the reports coming from Afghanistan and packaged with the help of Indian agents there can be. As Khar said, "Old wine in an even older bottle". Note how they carefully released this report to correspond with the visit of the Pakistani Foreign Minister. The NATO forces need to work together with Pakistan to create a real solution, not play games.