‘TALIBAN TAKING ORDERS FROM PAK GHQ, ASSURANCES TO INDIA NOT CONVINCING’

Officials in New Delhi are finding it difficult to trust the words of Taliban leaders who have assured India that they will not allow Afghanistan to be used as a place to plan and execute anti-india operations by Pakistan’s ISI and its allied agencies such as the Lashkar-e-tayyaba and Jaish-e-mohammed.

Indian officials tracking the matter told The Sunday Guardian that it was not just their view but the assessment of different governments that the Taliban leadership was taking instructions from the Pakistan army generals based in GHQ Rawalpindi and the ISI officers in Islamabad and acting as one of the many informal arms of the Pakistan army.

The fact that the Taliban that have taken control of multiple districts and towns in quick succession in the last few months, have still not spoken out against Isibacked entities like Lashkare-tayyaba and Jaish-e-mohammed categorically, has strengthened the belief in the security apparatus in Delhi that it would be unwise to trust the Taliban. Unconfirmed reports emerging from Kabul suggest that ISI has sent Lashkar terrorists to augment the ranks of the Taliban as they fight the Afghan national forces.

The Taliban leadership, which recently went to China, gave a clear assurance to the Chinese leadership that it will not allow the East Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM), an organization that has carried out attacks in China, to use the Afghan soil against China. This interaction between the Taliban and China was organized by Pakistan.

No such categorical assurance has been given to India by the Taliban that it will take action against the Lashkar and Jaish cadre. Pakistan’s generals and ISI officials believe that having a “pro-pakistan” government in Afghanistan will allow them to use Afghanistan as a “strategic depth” vassal state.

Officials in Delhi are yet to