It seems that the Taliban gets ammunition, money, and training from the people expected to eradicate them. The powerful and influential secret service of Pakistan (ISI) provides crucial support to different factions of the Taliban fighting in Afghanistan, as published by The New York Times, quoting U.S. and Pakistani sources in Washington and Islamabad.
The revelation coincides with the usual accusations of the government of Afghanistan on ISI’s involvement in attacks such as the most recent one where 10 Afghan policemen were killed. Another accusation is the attack on the embassy of India in July last year, as well as the attempt to assassinate Afghan President Hamid Karzai in April 2008.
According to information from The New York Times, the support consists of money, ammunition, fuel, and training strategy. Furthermore, the ISI allows the influx of money from Arab countries to finance the Afghan insurgency and even young recruits in the madrasas of the country to join the ranks of the Taliban. The newspaper says that U.S. authorities have evidence of meetings between officials of the ISI and the Taliban to discuss an increase in violence before the Afghan elections.
U.S. intelligence and the British are convinced that the ISI is supporting the three main groups committing attacks in Afghanistan: the Taliban led by Mullah Omar who are in the area of the Pakistani city of Queta in the south and the capital region Pashtunistán which includes parts of Afghanistan and Pakistan, the militia network led by Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, and another group under the command of guerrilla leader Jalaluddin Haqqani. The newspaper also quoted the ISI’s links with the Lashkar-e-Taiba, based in Pakistan and suspected in the Mumbai bombings.
ISI’s support for the Taliban is not part of a conscious strategy of Pakistani authorities. It is also not supported by ISI leaders, according to a source quoted by The New York Times. The reason for this relationship between ISI and the Taliban is quite simple: Pakistan is afraid that if foreign troops leave Afghanistan, this creates a power vacuum that could be exploited by India, the main enemy of Pakistan in the region.
The problem is that Pakistan is supposed to be a crucial U.S. ally in the fight against the Taliban in Afghanistan, and annually receives millions of dollars in military aid from Washington.
Via The Boston Globe
