.+$/,/=$' 2))(5(' $)*+$1,67$1 The West must not abandon 21 $ 3/$77(5 72 7+( 7$/,%$1 the Afghan resistance
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The chaos now unfolding in Kabul’s lawless streets, now under the Taliban’s lose form of control, is a perfect demonstration of what happens when you virtually allow a return to extremism to happen: extremism breeds extremism.
It was by no coincidence that ISIS-K managed to infiltrate the security vacuum created by the removal of the legitimate Afghan government and its security forces, and the return to power of the Taliban regime across virtually all of Afghanistan. The territory under their barbarous control is now more so than before 9/11.
In the three months after US President Joe Biden announced the unconditional withdrawal of US forces, effectively pulling the rug from under the Afghan government and its forces, village by village, district by district, province by province, fell to the Taliban. That is, all but the seven districts of Panjshir province.
Located only one hour north-east of Kabul, Panjshir is renowned as a deeply anti-taliban stronghold. As the Taliban begin to tighten their grip on Kabul, cracking down on the civil society, which has been allowed to flourish over the last two decades, the fiercely independent Panjshir is now the West’s last hope of any meaningful resistance to the Taliban.
In the hours before the fall of Kabul in early August, Ahmed Massoud, son of the famous and heroic Ahmed Shah Massoud, evacuated Kabul for the safety of Panjshir, his homeland. It was a wise decision. A sworn enemy of the Taliban, who helped orchestrate the plot to assassinate his father at the hands of Al Qaeda only hours before 9/11, he would almost certainly have been rounded up and executed had he stayed in the city.
As head of the Afghan National Resistance Front (NRF), Massoud is now the most important ally the West have in Afghanistan. Together with the Vice President, Amrullah Saleh, these individuals should now receive Britain and America’s support in their continuing fight against tyranny.
To not do so, and to instead choose a path of engagement and reconciliation with the Taliban, is equivalent of Neville Chamberlin’s appeasement of Adolf Hitler, and more recently of the British government’s appeasement of Sinn Fein in Northern Ireland. For the sake of short-term political convenience, we must stop deluding ourselves that political engagement and appeasement of fanatical and extremist ideologies will be in our national security interests.
What would be in our national security interests is an Afghanistan which will refuse sanctuary to international terrorists who threaten western security. The Taliban have already placed Khalil Haqqani as the de facto head of Kabul’s security: within days of this appointment ISIS-K were allowed to infiltrate the mass queues at the airport and detonate suicide bombs, killing more than 80 civilians and 13 US soldiers.
Aside the immediate short-term fatal consequences of this disastrous decision, Khalil Haqqani is also a wanted terrorist under the US’ watchlist, with a US$5 million bounty on his head. Haqqani has been instrumental in the Haqqani network’s relationships with senior members of Al Qaeda, as detailed in a UN report from June. In effect, the Taliban have now allowed international terrorists to run Kabul.
Yet the West continue to appease, and engage, whilst almost all but ignoring the Afghan Resistance Front. Located deep within the lush valleys and twisting mountain passes of Panjshir, the resistance fighters, led by a reinvigorated Massoud, are preparing their defences of the region against a likely Taliban assault.
Whilst the Soviets failed in nine attempted incursions into the province, winter is soon coming to Panjshir. With a Taliban siege, this could be a very short-lived resistance. Unless that is the West act now to help. There are already reported social media messages claiming that potential cease-fire negotiations may be occurring between the Taliban and the NRF.
To a chorus of repeated promises to continue supporting Afghanistan once the military have left, America and Britain must use this time now, as summer soon begins to give way to autumn and the harsh Afghan winter only a few short months away, to support Massoud and Saleh. As the legitimate Afghan head of state under the hard-fought Constitution which American and British lives have been given helping to defend, Saleh must be rightfully recognised as the legitimate head of state.
Alongside him, Massoud and the resistance fighters in Panjshir are the West’s only hope to avoid the exact same fate befalling both Afghanistan and the West, exactly 20 years after the terrible events of 9/11. Have we learnt nothing? 3PCFSU $MBSL JT B %FGFODF 1PMJDZ "TTPDJBUF BU UIF )FOSZ +BDLTPO 4PDJFUZ 1SJPS UP UIJT IF TFSWFE JO UIF #SJUJTI "SNZ GPS ZFBST JO DMVEJOH DPNCBU UPVST PG *SBR BOE "GHIBOJTUBO )F DBO CF GPVOE PO 5XJUUFS !3PCFSU$MBSL
On 15 August, the Taliban captured Kabul defeating the 350,000 strong Us-trained Afghan army. Dominant media coverage blamed the Afghan government’s incompetent and corrupt political leadership for the Afghan security forces’ surrender without a fight.
However, Pakistan’s role in orchestrating the Taliban coup was missing. This despite Pakistan’s double game of funding, sheltering, and training Taliban began in the early 1990s, with Islamabad playing a critical role in Kabul’s recent capture.
Reportedly, Zalmay Khalilzad, the top US diplomat assigned to lead the Afghan peace process and the withdrawal of the US forces, found a good friend in Interservices Intelligence (ISI),
Pakistan’s external intelligence service. The ISI has a history of cultivating top US diplomats. In the past, the FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation) investigated its ties with Robin Raphel, the veteran US diplomat who facilitated the creation of separatist Hurriyat in Kashmir, an intellectual arm of Pakistan-sponsored terrorist groups.
The aforementioned envoy to the Taliban, known for his lavish lifestyle, had once nurtured hopes of becoming the Afghan President. Pandering to his ambitions, the Pakistan Army chief Gen Bajwa and the ISI chief Lt Gen Hameed provided him almost exclusive access. The idea was to raise his political and diplomatic stature in Washington. When the Biden administration reconfirmed his appointment, ISI officials privately claimed to be the first to know about it. Mr Khalilzad deftly used that exclusive access to Bajwa and ISI chief to gain supreme authority in all the matters pertaining to the Afghan peace process. Being the principal architect of the Doha accords, he convinced the Trump administration to side line the Afghan government, compel them to release Taliban prisoners, and go ahead with withdrawal without looking at the fallout. This is precisely what Islamabad wanted. Doing Islamabad’s bidding, the American diplomat, who US Presidents considered to be the primary repository of the knowledge of Afghanistan’s conflict dynamics on account of his Afghan origins and a long diplomatic career in the region, successfully made Americans turn a blind eye to the fallout of the hasty withdrawal favoured by Trump and Biden. Also, he provided assessments shielding Pakistan’s true intent and plan to stage an aggressive Taliban onslaught and capture Kabul immediately after the US withdrawal.
Further, the strong faith that the US political leadership reposed in him helped him facilitate ISI’S backstage strategic and tactical moves, which ultimately led to the fall of Kabul in less than a week, belying the predictions of three to six months of the US intelligence.
Apparently, US intelligence agencies had finally realized that he was furthering Pakistan’s interest more than the US; however, they could not dent his game plan, most likely, for the following reasons: As per the author’s informed sources, the person in question used his exclusive access to the Pakistani army and intelligence chiefs to make the Trump and Biden teams dependent on him. Secondly, the US’ strategic decision-makers thought of using his influence with the Pakistani deep state to secure an honourable exit from Afghanistan. After the Doha accords, the Americans realized that their best option was an honourable exit in the given situation when the Taliban continued terror acts. In effect, it meant an interim government with members from the Taliban and Afghan government and a reasonably peaceful withdrawal.
However, Pakistan was as usual planning a complete spoiler for the US. Washington had vested “Zal” with substantial authority to steer the peace, making his words and choices highly influential among Afghan politicians. However, the US envoy used that authority to further Pakistan’s interests. He single-handedly destroyed Afghan unity. He negotiated with them separately, established the Taliban’s separate communication channels with them, sowing seeds of dissension and friction. As a result, there was complete confusion in the lack of coordination, clear line of instruction, and air support for Afghan National Defence and Security Forces (ANDSF), operations. Notably, the ANDSF, which has become a punching bag after 15 August, is the force that has fought bravely against the Taliban for the last 20 years.
Further, Khalilzad kept the US in check, convincing Washington to keep New Delhi out of the ambit of the critical negotiations. Indians, guarded and sceptical under the thin line of distrust and unease that ails Indo-us relations in perpetuity and their indecisiveness, also did not display any proactive approach and forwardthinking to address the situation and carve out a space for themselves.
On the other side, a much bigger plan was in place. Afghanistan was never about a bunch of Taliban terrorists. At a deeper level, state actors like Russia, China, Iran, Turkey, and most importantly, Pakistan were facilitating and navigating the Taliban’s swift and smooth journey into power, with long-term geopolitical and geo-economic motives. However, with its narrow focus on the Taliban and irrational trust in Pakistan, the US failed to understand the nuances of the oriental statecraft and came out as a miserable failure. Today, when Khalil Haqqani, a Haqqani network terrorist with a bounty of $5 million over his head, plays a crucial role in forming the Taliban’s government, Pakistan’s critical role in staging this coup becomes blatantly evident.
The Taliban’s victory has raised the Pakistan army’s stature in the eyes of its domestic and South Asian Wahhabi admirers, reducing to insignificance the possibilities of restoring democracy in Pakistan.
To sum up, Pakistan has failed not only the US but also the civilized world. And yet it goes scot-free.
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