ISLAMABAD: Pakistan, nominally a US partner in the war on terror, sees the Taliban victory as its own in Afghanistan.
Jane Perlez, in a New York Times article, said Pakistan’s already shaky reputation in the West is likely to plummet now, as the Taliban take on Afghanistan.
Calls to sanction Pakistan have already circulated on social media. In addition, amid the lack of foreign funding, Pakistan will have to rely on jihadist drug trafficking encouraged by the new rulers of Kabul. A Taliban-led state on its border will certainly encourage the Taliban and other Islamist terrorists in Pakistan itself, Perlez said.
Apparently, Pakistan was the American comrade in the war against Al Qaeda and the Taliban. Its military has earned tens of billions of dollars in U.S. aid over the past two decades, even when Washington acknowledged that much of the money disappeared into the countless sinkholes.
In the past three months, as the Taliban crossed Afghanistan, the Pakistani army made a wave of new fighters across the border from Pakistan’s shrines, tribal leaders have said. It was a final blow of grace for U.S.-trained Afghan security forces, Perlez said.
“Pakistanis and inter-service intelligence (ISI) believe they have won in Afghanistan,” said Robert L Grenier, former head of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) station in Pakistan . But, he warned, Pakistanis should watch what they want. “If the Afghan Taliban become leaders of a pariah state, Pakistan is likely to be tied to them.”
Perlez also said Pakistan is not only the real winner. Pakistan, along with China, are helping to fill the space that Americans have left in Afghanistan after the Taliban took over. The embassies of the two nations have remained open since the Taliban seized Kabul.
One of the new rulers of Afghanistan, Khalil Haqqani, a Taliban leader who was a regular visitor to the Rawalpindi military headquarters, is one of the Pakistani protectors, one of the new rulers of Afghanistan.
Known by U.S. intelligence as the Taliban al Qaeda emissary, Haqqani showed up in Kabul last week as his new security chief, blatantly armed with a U.S.-made M4 rifle, with a protective squad dressed in American combat equipment.
The nexus between Pakistanis and victorious Haqqani was indisputable and indispensable to the Taliban’s victory, said Douglas London, a former CIA counterterrorism chief for South and Southwest Asia.
Pakistani army chief Qamar Javed Bajwa and ISI chief Hameed Faiz met with Haqqani “on a recurring basis,” London said. The large Haqqani family has been known to live in almost ungovernable areas of Pakistan along the Afghan border, The New York Times reported.
Pakistan’s aid, he said, included a range of services. Safe havens in Pakistan’s border areas, especially in the city of Quetta, protected Afghan Taliban fighters and their families.
Medical services treated wounded fighters, sometimes in hospitals in major cities, Karachi and Peshawar. Free freedom for haqqani to manage lucrative real estate, smuggling and other businesses in Pakistan maintained their revolutionary war machine, The New York Times reported.
The ISI also provided the active Taliban with raising their international status. Taliban leader Abdul Ghani Baradar traveled with a Pakistani passport to attend peace talks in Doha, Qatar, and to meet in Tianjin, China, with Foreign Minister Wang Yi.
Jane Perlez, in a New York Times article, said Pakistan’s already shaky reputation in the West is likely to plummet now, as the Taliban take on Afghanistan.
Calls to sanction Pakistan have already circulated on social media. In addition, amid the lack of foreign funding, Pakistan will have to rely on jihadist drug trafficking encouraged by the new rulers of Kabul. A Taliban-led state on its border will certainly encourage the Taliban and other Islamist terrorists in Pakistan itself, Perlez said.
Apparently, Pakistan was the American comrade in the war against Al Qaeda and the Taliban. Its military has earned tens of billions of dollars in U.S. aid over the past two decades, even when Washington acknowledged that much of the money disappeared into the countless sinkholes.
In the past three months, as the Taliban crossed Afghanistan, the Pakistani army made a wave of new fighters across the border from Pakistan’s shrines, tribal leaders have said. It was a final blow of grace for U.S.-trained Afghan security forces, Perlez said.
“Pakistanis and inter-service intelligence (ISI) believe they have won in Afghanistan,” said Robert L Grenier, former head of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) station in Pakistan . But, he warned, Pakistanis should watch what they want. “If the Afghan Taliban become leaders of a pariah state, Pakistan is likely to be tied to them.”
Perlez also said Pakistan is not only the real winner. Pakistan, along with China, are helping to fill the space that Americans have left in Afghanistan after the Taliban took over. The embassies of the two nations have remained open since the Taliban seized Kabul.
One of the new rulers of Afghanistan, Khalil Haqqani, a Taliban leader who was a regular visitor to the Rawalpindi military headquarters, is one of the Pakistani protectors, one of the new rulers of Afghanistan.
Known by U.S. intelligence as the Taliban al Qaeda emissary, Haqqani showed up in Kabul last week as his new security chief, blatantly armed with a U.S.-made M4 rifle, with a protective squad dressed in American combat equipment.
The nexus between Pakistanis and victorious Haqqani was indisputable and indispensable to the Taliban’s victory, said Douglas London, a former CIA counterterrorism chief for South and Southwest Asia.
Pakistani army chief Qamar Javed Bajwa and ISI chief Hameed Faiz met with Haqqani “on a recurring basis,” London said. The large Haqqani family has been known to live in almost ungovernable areas of Pakistan along the Afghan border, The New York Times reported.
Pakistan’s aid, he said, included a range of services. Safe havens in Pakistan’s border areas, especially in the city of Quetta, protected Afghan Taliban fighters and their families.
Medical services treated wounded fighters, sometimes in hospitals in major cities, Karachi and Peshawar. Free freedom for haqqani to manage lucrative real estate, smuggling and other businesses in Pakistan maintained their revolutionary war machine, The New York Times reported.
The ISI also provided the active Taliban with raising their international status. Taliban leader Abdul Ghani Baradar traveled with a Pakistani passport to attend peace talks in Doha, Qatar, and to meet in Tianjin, China, with Foreign Minister Wang Yi.