Classified Nato interrogation reports of insurgent detainees in Afghanistan reveal quite dramatically that the “direct” help to the Taliban by Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence continues even as Nato forces, including American troops, prepare to leave the country by 2014 and President Barack Obama’s administration is in the process of setting up an elaborate spectacle in the name of peace and reconciliation talks with the Taliban to prepare the extremist outfit for a role in the future governance of the country.
With Mr Obama seeking re-election after declaring mission successful in Afghanistan, it is not surprising that an International Security Assistance Force spokesman should note that the leaked reports were raw material from the questioning of prisoners and did not constitute the end product of analysis throwing light on the strategic significance — if any — of what the detainees had to say. Pakistan foreign minister Hina Rabbani Khar, who was in Kabul when the leak hit the international media earlier this week, was even more predictable, observing that the news reports were “old wine in an even older bottle”. She also repeated the old mumbo-jumbo about her country having no interest in poking its nose in Afghanistan, a claim the world dismisses as absurd and incredible.
Whatever the disavowals on the American and Pakistani side, the leaked material is from as many as 27,000 interrogations of 4,000 detainees belonging to several groups, notably Taliban and Al Qaeda. Underlining the embryonic link between the militants of various groups and the ISI, a senior Al Qaeda leader, taken in Kunar in eastern Afghanistan on the border with Pakistan, has wryly noted in his interrogation (conducted by the Americans) that he can’t even climb a tree without the ISI knowing! With a touch of irony, the man also said: “Taliban is not Islam, it is Islamabad.” Small wonder that the classified document is unambiguous that the Taliban are confident of retaking Kabul with Pakistan’s help after the Western troops have left by 2014.
If that happens, it will be back to 1996, and we may wistfully look at the international effort put in since 2001 (the destruction of the Taliban regime) as work gone up in smoke. The Americans will have to bear the cross, should this come to pass. They have mollycoddled the Pakistan Army and the ISI, although these institutions were helping the Taliban rebuild. The leaked material bears a close resemblance to the WikiLeaks disclosures on AfPak of a year ago, and in that sense constitutes corroboration. Given these disclosures the Afghans would be naïve to accept the US peace and reconciliation moves with the Taliban at face value. India too must speak up. This country has long-term stakes in Afghanistan.