["They (the Taliban) don't need any backing. Everybody knows that after 10 years, they (NATO) have not been able to control a single province in Afghanistan because of the wrong policies they have been following," Pakistani Senator Tariq Azim, a member of the Senate's Defence Committee, told Reuters.]
REUTERS
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| A Taliban militant poses after joining the
Afghan government's reconciliation and reintegration programme. Photograph: Reuters |
KABUL: A secret U.S. military
report says that the Taliban, backed by Pakistan, are set to retake control
over Afghanistan after NATO-led forces withdraw from the country, The Times
newspaper reported on Wednesday.
Lt Col Jimmie Cummings,
a spokesman for the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF),
confirmed the document's existence but said it was not a strategic study of
operations.
"The classified
document in question is a compilation of Taliban detainee opinions," he
said. "It's not an analysis, nor is it meant to be considered an
analysis."
Nevertheless, it could
be interpreted as a damning assessment of the war, now dragging into its
eleventh year and aimed at blocking a Taliban return to power, or possibly an
admission of defeat.
It could also reinforce
the view of Taliban hardliners that the group should not negotiate peace with
the United States and President Hamid Karzai's unpopular government while in a
position of strength.
The document cited by
Britain's The Times said that Pakistan's powerful security agency, the
Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), was assisting the Taliban in directing
attacks against foreign forces.
The allegations drew a
strong response from Pakistani Foreign Ministry spokesman Abdul Basit.
"This is frivolous, to put it mildly," he told Reuters. "We are
committed to non-interference in Afghanistan."
The Times said the
"highly classified" report was put together by the U.S. military at
Bagram air base in Afghanistan for top NATO officers last month. The BBC also
carried a report on the leaked document.
Large swathes of
Afghanistan have already been handed back to Afghan security forces, with the
last foreign combat troops due to leave by the end of 2014.
But many Afghans doubt
their army, security forces or police will be able to take firm control of one
of the world's most volatile countries once foreign combat troops leave.
The U.S. embassy in
Kabul declined to comment on the report.
The accusations will
likely further strain ties between Western powers and Islamabad, which has long
denied backing militant groups seeking to topple the U.S.-backed government in
Kabul.
Pakistani Foreign
Minister Hina Rabbani Khar was visiting Kabul on Wednesday on a mission to
repair strained diplomatic ties with Afghanistan's government and to meet
Karzai to discuss possible peace talks with the Taliban.
TURBULENT
HISTORY
Pakistan is currently
reviewing ties with the United States which have suffered a series of setbacks
since a unilateral U.S. raid that killed Osama bin Laden on Pakistani soil in
May last year humiliated Pakistan's powerful generals.
A November 26
cross-border NATO air attack that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers deepened the
crisis, prompting Islamabad to suspend supply routes to NATO forces in
Afghanistan.
Pakistan is seen as
critical to U.S. efforts to stabilize Afghanistan, a feat one foreign power
after another has failed to accomplish over the country's turbulent history.
Islamabad has resisted
U.S. pressure to go after insurgent groups like the Taliban and the Haqqani
network, and argues Washington's approach overlooks complex realities on the
ground.
Pakistan says Washington
should attempt to bring all militant groups into the peace process and fears a
2014 combat troop exit could be hasty, plunging the region into the kind of
chaos seen after the Soviet exit in 1989.
"They (the Taliban)
don't need any backing. Everybody knows that after 10 years, they (NATO) have
not been able to control a single province in Afghanistan because of the wrong
policies they have been following," Pakistani Senator Tariq Azim, a member
of the Senate's Defence Committee, told Reuters.
Pentagon spokesman
George Little said: "We have long been concerned about ties between
elements of the ISI and some extremist networks."
Little said U.S. Defense
Secretary Leon Panetta "has also been clear that he believes that the safe
havens in Pakistan remain a serious problem and need to be addressed by
Pakistani authorities".
The document's findings
were based on interrogations of more than 4,000 Taliban and al Qaeda detainees,
the Times said, adding that it identified only few individual insurgents.
A State Department
spokesman and Britain's Foreign Office both declined comment on the report.
Despite the presence of
about 100,000 foreign troops, violence in Afghanistan is at its worst since the
Taliban were ousted by U.S.-backed Afghan forces in 2001, according to the
United Nations.
The Taliban announced
this month they would open a political office in the Qatari capital Doha to
support possible peace talks with the United States.
But there has also been
talk of efforts to hold separate talks in Saudi Arabia because Karzai fears his
government could be sidelined by U.S. talks with the Taliban.
The report could boost
the Taliban's confidence and make its leaders less willing to make concessions
on key U.S. demands for a ceasefire and for the insurgency to renounce violence
and break all ties to al Qaeda.
Hoping to gain
credibility with a population still haunted by memories of the Taliban's harsh
rule from 1996-2001, the group has tried to improve its image as its fighters
battle NATO and Afghan forces.
The Times said the
document suggested the Taliban were gaining in popularity partly because the
austere Islamist movement was becoming more tolerant.
"It remains to be
seen whether a revitalized, more progressive Taliban will endure if they
continue to gain power and popularity," it quoted the report as saying.
"Regardless, at
least within the Taliban, the refurbished image is already having a positive
effect on morale."
Prominent Pakistani
security analyst Imtiaz Gul described the report as alarmist, saying Afghan
security forces backed by the international community would resist any Taliban
takeover.
"This is simply
preposterous to propagate this theory," he said.
[A local government official, Fateh Bangalzai, said soldiers discovered the bodies of seven unarmed men near the checkpoint Wednesday morning. Authorities were investigating whether the men were part of the attacking group or civilians caught in the crossfire, said Bangalzai.]
ASSOCIATED PRESS
QUETTA: Gunmen attacked a
paramilitary checkpoint in southwestern Pakistan, killing 11 soldiers and
increasing tension in an area where a separatist insurgency has raged for
decades, the military said Wednesday.
Twelve soldiers were
also wounded in the attack Tuesday night in the Marwarh area of Baluchistan
province, said the paramilitary Frontier Corps. The troops returned fire, but
officials did not indicate whether the attackers suffered any casualties.
A local government
official, Fateh Bangalzai, said soldiers discovered the bodies of seven unarmed
men near the checkpoint Wednesday morning. Authorities were investigating
whether the men were part of the attacking group or civilians caught in the
crossfire, said Bangalzai.
Insurgents in
Baluchistan have long demanded greater autonomy and a larger share of the
province's natural resources.
Pakistan has also been
fighting a violent Taliban insurgency over the past few years that aims to
topple the government, partly because of its alliance with the United States.
It has launched a series of offensives in the northwest along the Afghan
border, but the militants have continued their attacks.
Pakistani fighter jets
bombed the hideouts of two militant commanders along the Afghan border
Wednesday, killing up to 31 insurgents, government and security officials said.
One of those killed was
reported to be a Pakistani Taliban leader in Orakzai region named Moin ud Din,
said one security official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was
not authorized to talk to the media.
It was not possible to
independently confirm the information because the border region is effectively
off-limits to reporters. Militants have in the past disputed army accounts of
casualties, and human rights groups say civilians often die in military
actions.
There were air strikes
in the bordering regions of Kurram and Orakzai, said government officials Wajid
Khan and Ameer Gul.
The attacks followed
clashes between soldiers and militants over a strategic mountaintop in Kurram
that killed over 60 people in the last week.
NATO PLAYS DOWN REPORT OF COLLABORATION BETWEEN TALIBAN AND PAKISTAN
[The revelations about support for the Taliban from the Inter-Services Intelligence Directorate, or ISI, Pakistan’s spy agency, are not new, although the BBC said the insurgents’ leaders meet regularly with Pakistani agents to map strategy.]
By Rod Nordland
But the official, Lt. Col Jimmie E. Cummings of the
International Security Assistance Force, disputed accounts of the NATO report
that suggested the alliance’s analysts accepted the Taliban views as valid.
“This document aggregates the comments of Taliban detainees
in a captive environment, without considering the validity of or motivation
behind their reflections. Any conclusions drawn from this would be questionable
at best.”
The report apparently was leaked a day before a visit here
by Hina Rabbani Khar, the Pakistani foreign minister, the first after months of
strained relations.
On Wednesday, she dismissed initial news reports about the
document, saying the interpretations could be “disregarded,” Reuters reported.
”We can disregard this as a potentially strategic leak,”
Reuters quoted her as saying. This is old wine in an even older bottle.”
The report, called the State of the Taliban, was apparently
obtained by the BBC and The Times of London, which published accounts late
Tuesday. The BBC said it was based on 27,000 interrogations of 4,000 Taliban
prisoners.
NATO at first refused to comment on the report, saying it
never responded to leaks of classified information. Later, however, Colonel
Cummings issued a detailed rebuttal.
The revelations about support for the Taliban from the
Inter-Services Intelligence Directorate, or ISI, Pakistan’s spy agency, are not
new, although the BBC said the insurgents’ leaders meet regularly with
Pakistani agents to map strategy.
NATO’s response indicated it was more concerned at
suggestions that Afghan officials and soldiers were demoralized and expected a
Taliban victory once I.S.A.F. troops pull out.
“It is important not to draw conclusions based on Taliban
comments or musings. These detainees include some of the most motivated and
ruthless of the insurgents who are inspired to play up their success,” Colonel
Cummings said. “It is what they want us to believe they think.”
“We also dispute the idea that somehow the Afghan national
security forces might be working with the Taliban. Many dedicated patriotic
Afghan security force members have lost their lives defending Afghanistan from
insurgents.”
@ The New York Times
@ The New York Times
