Pakistani hand behind Taliban exposed in a new book

Tara Shankar Sahay in New Delhi

The Pakistani role in the genesis and growth of the Taliban movement in Afghanistan has been exposed in a new book, Taliban and the Afghan Turmoil -- The role of USA, Pakistan, Iran and China edited by Sreedhar, a defence strategist attached to the Institute of Defence Studies and Analyses, New Delhi.

Sreedhar told Rediff On The NeT that the Taliban's leadership comprises Pushtu-speaking Kandhahari Afghan intelligence officers from Pakistan's Inter Services Intelligence directorate. He pointed out that the former ISI chief, Lt General (retired) Hamid Gul has emerged as an important spokesperson of the Taliban movement in the last two years. Visitors to the Taliban camps, he said, had reported how Pakistani military personnel were engaged in the Islamic youth organisation's activities.

His book outlines how Pakistan cleverly exploited the Soviet intervention in Afghanistan to fulfill Islamabad's aspirations of not only getting financial and military aid from the US but also mobilising the Afghan refugees pouring into Pakistan as Mujahideen to fight a jihad against the Soviet army.

Pakistan, Sreedhar claimed, also forced rich Islamic countries to make large donations to counter the Soviet threat. Islamabad, he added, also tried to form an anti-India front with the help of the Afghan mujahideen.

The Pakistani armed forces, he said, functioned as an autonomous institution, and not within the polity. The harsh truth, he emphasised, was that they were not accountable to the elected government of Pakistan.

While the Pakistan government's declared policy is to weed out Islamic militants from Pakistani soil, Sreedhar said the Pakistan armed forces continues to provide armed training to the Taliban.

Lately, he said, Islamabad's pursuance of its strategic interests in Afghanistan appears to have backfired as some Afghan leaders have spoken out against Pakistan's interference in Afghanistan's internal affairs.