I
was posted as Director FIA at Peshawar in 1992, during the regime of Nawaz
Sharif. At the same time, Anwar Zahid being the Principal Secretary to the PM
was playing political and administrative shots. As a result of which the
government of Gulbadin Hekmatyar as PM, and Mullah Rabbani as President was
installed to run the national government in Afghanistan. Anwar Zahid remained
in contact with me during this transition in Afghanistan. I had the chance to
meet both (Hekmatyar and Mullah Rabbani) and I realised that both were not on
one page.
This
coalition government, however, could not work well because of political
friction between both of them. The government was failing and it was like civil
disobedience in whole Afghanistan. In the meanwhile, Mullah Umar became more
active with his groups in Kandahar.
A
militant group called Taliban under the leadership of Mullah Umar emerged by
taking advantage of this friction between both the prime minister and the
president. By that time, I was already transferred to the FIA HQ by the
caretaker government of Mr Moeen Qureshi. I was posted as Director Immigration
& Anti- Smuggling with additional special assignments of probing into white
collar crimes to control the illegal emigration from Pakistan.
Consequent
to general elections, Gen Naseerullah Babar took over as interior minister and
he attached me to his office in addition to my official duties. By virtue of my
official associations with the interior minister, I noticed that he had a
special interest in resolving the Afghan issue. Gulbadin Hekmatyar, Ahmed Shah
Masood, Mullah Razzaq, Mullah Burjan, Mullah Omer were close to Gen Naseerullah
Babar. I met Hekmatyar and Mullah Rabbani in Peshawar and knew some background
and undercurrents within the Afghan leadership.
In
the meantime, Hekmatyar found his way of friendship with Osama bin Laden in
early 1990s, but later on fall apart when he noticed Osama bin Laden has gone
close to the emerging faction of Mullah Umar. On the other hand, Gen. Babar had
also developed a fine association with the Mullah Umar group with the help of
the then intelligence wheeler and dealers which made him closer to the founder
of Taliban; Mullah Umar.
One
evening, I received a call of Gen. Babar asking me to be in a special meeting
being arranged in the Narcotics Division in Blue area. I attended the said
meeting and met Mullah Umar with Gen Babar, thereafter the Taliban under Mullah
Umar gave their first appearance in Kandahar. When Gen. Babar took diplomats
from Islamabad in C-130 to Kandahar in order to introduce the newly formed
group of Afghan Taliban. A USA Ambassador was also present in the said
visit/Introduction. The logistics for the meeting were arranged from Karachi
and it was great lunch served to the visitors in Kandahar and then the world
saw the emergence of the rule of Mullah Umar under Taliban.
I
also experienced a strict grip of Taliban in Jalalabad and Kabul while going in
exile via Afghanistan under disguise after a serious attempt on my life in
Islamabad. I travelled with a well-known journalist from Peshawar.
Mullah
Umar despite being a leader of small faction had declared himself as the
founder of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan in 1996. The Taliban chose him as
“Amir ul Momineen” (Commander of the Faithful/the Supreme Leader of the
Muslims).
I
would like to give a brief history of Mullah Omer for the readers. He was born
in a poor family and had absolutely no political connections. His father died
when he as was too young, his uncles raised him. After the 1978 Soviet
Revolution in Afghanistan, he was sent to Karachi in 1979 to study at the Jamia
Uloom-ul-Islamia along with other children. After the Soviet invasion, the
family moved to Tarinkot in Urozgan province and young Umar was left to feed
the family. He was unemployed so he became the mullah and established his own
madrassa in a mud hut with few cows.
In
the very beginning, he fought as a rebel soldier with the anti-Soviet
Mujahedeen under the command of Naek Mohammad of the Hizb-e-Islami (Khalis). He
later moved again back to a mosque in Karachi where he used to lead prayers.
Soon after the Soviet left Afghanistan, he started his movement with less than
50-armed madrassa students from Afghanistan and subsequently raised 12000
recruits under his command.
I
had never thought that this simple man I was meeting in a black turban would
emerge as Emir of Taliban and even powerful Haqqani Network will also become
subservient to him.
Osama
bin Laden met Mullah Umar on return from Sudan and pledged his loyalty to him and
created a point strategy between al-Qaeda and Taliban. Umar became a top wanted
leader of Taliban by the US government after being accused of providing shelter
to Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda militants after the September 11 attacks
whereas Mullah Umar continued his rule through his following cabinet members
Mullah Akhtar Mansoor as (Deputy leader), Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar as (Deputy
leader), Maulavi Abdul Kabir as (Governor of Nangarhar), Mullah Khairullah
Khairkhwa as (Governor of Herat province and Minister of the Interior), Mullah
Ubaidullah as (Defence Minister, Deputy Chief), Maulavi Ahmad Jan as (Governor
of Zabul province). His rule was recognised by UAE, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan.
The
Afghan Taliban remained organised and continued to fight with Americans and
even with their installed Afghan government. Even the most equipped
international armies could not eliminate them. Many of the cabinet members of
Mullah Umar were arrested after the USA attack on Afghanistan. Most of them
were taken blindfolded to Guantanamo Bay where they were tortured to the core
but the determination of Taliban could not be shaken.
The
USA was forced to decide to come on the table and Pakistan played its role in
bringing the Taliban on the table on various locations including Jeddah,
Germany, China, Pakistan, UAE and then finally Qatar. The latest dialogues were
held between USA and Taliban in Abu Dhabi followed by a well-published meeting
in Qatar. The US delegation headed by Khalil Zalmay met Taliban delegation headed
by Mullah Baradar and Mullah Abdul Salam Zaeef who had earlier been tortured in
the USA torture cell in Guantanamo Bay.
In
the said meeting, they discussed a potential prisoner exchange and a ceasefire
that will eventually lead to the withdrawal of US forces from Afghanistan. It
is pertinent to note that the Taliban were less flexible in their demands and
approach sensing that the USA was in hurry to stuck a deal with them at the
earliest. The Taliban deliberately exploited the weaknesses of the USA in their
favour in terms of taking a tough stance.
It
seems US is now inching closer to accepting the Taliban’s main demand which is
focused on withdrawal of US troops as the Trump Administration has decided to
withdraw half of its 14000 troops from Afghanistan.
The
second and third rounds of the talks were held in January to work out the
transition of power following by yet another meeting in April 2019. Taliban did
not offer anything in return so far to American except insisting on their
demand to expedite the early exit of USA Army. They even refused to talk to the
Afghan government.
Pakistan
has played its laudable and highly appreciable role in getting these
negotiations to move forward to a conclusion. The credit of this impossible
task goes to Gen Bajwa & his team for providing help and support to both
USA and Taliban in pushing the situation converging for a doable solution for
the peace agreement, which is likely to become a reality very soon.
We
are feeling a positive change in the tone of the American administration and
President Donald Trump for Pakistan and the success of this peace process will
enhance Pak image worldwide.
I
have been advocating in all the local & international forums for the last
many years that Afghanistan will become peaceful only once American Army leaves
Afghanistan once and for all. I have stated on record that the USA will have no
choice except to leave Afghanistan one day.
Now
Donald Trump can be actually seen under terrible pressure of withdrawal of US
Army because of his own growing issue vis-a-vis Mueller enquiry including
outcry of the general public over wasteful expenditure in this clueless war
without any achievement. The US administration is making efforts to bring an
interim government in Afghanistan, which is not up to the liking of the present
government of Afghanistan. The entry of former president Karzai in this process
with Afghan Taliban could be strong indicator for future coalition government
between Karzai and the Taliban. Karzai had been trying for this coalition with
good Taliban while he was the president of Afghanistan.
It
looks that President Ashraf Ghani might be isolated whereas the lead may be
taken by ex-president Karzai with some other factions including Gen Dostam.
In
this scenario, Russia may get some role to reach over to some arrangements of a
power-sharing formula. It will all depend on how much support Karzai has from
Americans as he had lost the American support in the last days of his
government.
This
war crept in our country too via TTP and this American war had caused a heavy
loss to our economy of over $120 billion. Our mosques, schools, colleges,
universities and public and private institutions were attacked. Almost one
hundred and fifty children were butchered in a single attack at army public
school in Peshawar. Minorities have been targeted several times and it also
deteriorated our country image at the global level.
Pakistan
has suffered both with blame game and drones as it has been supporting the
Americans in this war yet it had to keep on justifying its position vis-a-vis alleged
backing of factions of Taliban. We have always returned from Washington along
with a pile of these allegations and do more demands. I hope the peace in
Afghanistan will give a sigh of relief to the people of Pakistan.
The
USA has been able to convince the Taliban to accept its demand of retaining at
least two military bases, Bagram and Shorabak to continue under the control of
the USA, which is a strong indicator that Americans have decided to hand over
the control of Afghanistan to Taliban on 'give and take' basis. On the other
hand, however, the Taliban have been firm on its demands of complete withdrawal
of USA forces from Afghanistan to bring back Taliban rule in their country following
Mullah Umar's ideology.
The
world is still confused as to why the USA attacked Afghanistan in the first
place when the majority of the international community had advised American not
to attack Afghanistan. I am witness to these efforts while being in exile.
Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto was also not in favour of the attack on
Afghanistan and I on her advice took initiative through an ambassador (a
prominent leader) and close Saudi leadership in this context. He was also close
to many cabinet members of Mullah Umar.
The
said friend and representatives of Europe and America met in Bahrain where I
was also present. Europe was against the attack and even Saudi Arabia was not
in favour of this attack where a sufficient room was created for negotiation to
block the attack.
We
both were told after 48 hrs in the evening by European representative that the
USA has declined the offer of Taliban and USA has decided to attack Afghanistan
what come may. I can say with authority that the USA was predetermined to
attack exactly the same way it attacked on Iraq on false intelligence. I am a
personal witness to many developments during the said period too.
I
wish the USA had agreed to the proposal of negotiation with Afghan Taliban
before attacking Afghanistan as it would have saved them from these non-ending
sufferings. Next day, I went to Dubai and briefed Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir
Bhutto about the decision of Americans attack on Afghanistan and she was
equally disappointed to learn about it. One week later, the world witnessed the
USA attack on Afghanistan.
The
world powers had some other motives and thereafter we saw the entire Muslim
world in trouble with Arab spring, Libyan fall, Egyptian debacle and finally
the fall of Iraq and then civil war in Syria.
I
see now the same stakeholders and same countries have entered in this game of
mediating between Taliban and world powers. I see replication of abrupt
withdrawal of USA Army again in this region. Let us see how the same old script
written a long time ago by CIA, is implemented this time. President Donald Trump
is apparently looking determined to pull out the forces after loss of 7000
soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan as the American public will not allow more
deaths of American soldiers abroad.
The
world will soon witness the recognition of coalition Taliban government where
the major stakeholder/winners will be those Taliban who have remained under the
custody of American soldiers in the past.
Unfortunately,
despite the expected Taliban coalition government, the biggest challenge for
the Taliban government would be to contain the influence and presence of Daesh,
which has already been planted in Afghanistan. Unlike past, this time a
well-established, comparatively more powerful and well-energised Daesh is going
to be left behind which may emerge in this region as a more lethal power than
al-Qaeda.
This
phenomenon would not only be dangerous for Pakistan, but for the whole region
including China. It is yet to be seen whether the Taliban would join hands with
Daesh or there may be yet another guerrilla war to be initiated by Daesh.
Coming
to the role of Pakistan in establishing peace, I have been watching the
developments in this peace process very closely and let us admit that General
Qamar Javed Bajwa has played a role of silent mediator behind the scene & it
was his skillful management which has brought the ever irked Taliban to the
negotiation table.
It
looks that General Bajwa has been successful in convincing all the stake
holders including the USA that peace in Afghanistan is important for Pakistan.
I
also happen to know Zalmay Khalilzad personally who is a capable diplomat and I
feel that he is on the same page with Pakistan on this issue as he knows this
region well and he has on record appreciated the role of Pakistan. I wish him
success in his noble peace mission.
Pakistan
strongly believes that, wars bring “death, destruction and misery” for the
people. Ultimately, all issues are to be resolved on the table through
negotiations and all the appreciation goes to Gen Bajwa for bringing the
Taliban on the table with hope to have peace in this region.
Pakistan
is fighting against militancy at different fronts therefore, let us not forget
India, which is always there to use cold doctrine against Pakistan and partly
against China. Let us hope that we also adopt a doable strategy to convince TTP
to give up violence and join in the mainstream & work for our lovely
Pakistan to make it peaceful and prosperous.
These
are my personal views and do not necessarily represent the views of my party.
More
over Let us hope and pray to see this region free of any further “American
Doctrine”.
The Article has been Published in ‘’The
News’’ on February 10th, 2019
The Link to Article is: https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/430073-watch-out-afghan-taliban-rule-of-1994-striking-back
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