Page 1 of 2 ATOL SPECIAL REPORT War and peace: A Taliban view
By Syed Saleem Shahzad
KARACHI - After an often stormy relationship with the United States over the
past 63 years since its independence, Pakistan is in the process of forging an
all-embracing strategic relationship with Washington.
A delegation led by Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi is in Washington for
meetings at the State Department with a team led by US Secretary of State
Hillary Clinton to discuss matters ranging from the situation in Afghanistan to
a civil nuclear deal to commerce and agriculture.
The American military command also specially invited a military contingent,
including army chief General Ashfaq Parvez Kiani and
the director general of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), Lieutenant
General Ahmad Shuja Pasha. High on their agenda are the recent arrests in
Pakistan of senior Taliban officials, including that of Mullah Abdul Ghani
Baradar, the deputy of Taliban leader Mullah Omar.
Washington and Islamabad will have their own interpretation of their emerging
deeper relationship as well as the significance of the arrests: that they will
lead to a peace process in which Mullah Omar and al-Qaeda will be isolated and
the US will reconcile with moderate Taliban cadre through Pakistan's mediation.
The Taliban, too, have their viewpoint on these unfolding developments. A
senior Taliban official contacted Asia Times Online to put their side of the
story. The man cannot be identified because the Taliban, since the arrests, are
very cautious. For the purposes of this report, the Talib will be called
Abdullah.
Rendezvous with the Taliban
The traffic moves slowly on the main arteries of the southern port city of
Karachi on weekend evenings as people search out roadside restaurants; their
parked cars line the streets, clogging byways that are already overflowing with
bustling pedestrians.
All the same, I make it to my appointed meeting place at 9pm. Within a minute a
brand-new silver-grey imported Japanese car draws to a halt in front of me. I
immediately recognize the man in the front passenger's seat; I interviewed him
several years ago. He had a senior position in the Taliban government until it
was forced out by the US-led invasion of Afghanistan in late 2001. Abdullah is
about 50 years old, but looks much older.
I slip into the back seat behind Abdullah and exchange greetings.
"Against all the odds, given the arrests, we have come to see you," the driver
and interlocutor of our meeting tells me. "But we have to follow new
arrangements. You will not quote his [Abdullah's] name as since the arrest of
Mullah Baradar there have been strict instructions from the ameerul momineen
[commander of the faithful - a title the Taliban use for Mullah Omar] to avoid
media interviews," the driver says. I have no option but to accept the
condition.
The car makes its way through busy roads towards a main northern exit of the
city.
"What is your take on the recent arrests of Taliban leaders and commanders?" I
say, breaking a heavy silence. We are now cruising past trucks laden with goods
destined for northern Pakistan.
"What arrests are you talking about?" Abdullah responds.
"Several people, like Moulvi Abdul Kabir [a former Taliban governor of Nagarhar
province in Afghanistan], Mullah Abdul Salam, Mullah Mir Muhammad, Syed Tayyab
Agha [Mullah Omar's secretary] and Mullah Mustasim Jan Agha," I say.
"I assure you, 300%, neither Moulvi Abdul Kabir nor Syed Tayyab Agha has been
arrested. It was false reporting. Mullah Abdul Salam and Mullah Mir Muhammad
were arrested at least a month before Mullah Baradar, but their arrest was
shown after Mullah Baradar's. I have not been in direct contact with Mullah
Mustasim Jan Agha so I cannot claim with surety about his status, but I was
told by his friends that he was not arrested," Abdullah says.
"There are so many conspiracy theories surrounding Mullah Baradar's arrest,
what is your understanding. Why was he arrested by Pakistan?"
"Pakistan's compulsions ... the compulsions that are now rising day-by-day," he
replies mildly.
By now we were speeding along a main highway, with the city lights fast
receding. All of a sudden the driver slows down and turns onto a muddy track.
After a short while he draws up at an open-air restaurant frequented mostly by
truck drivers. At this time it is not busy and we order a meal of chicken Karahi,
a famous Pashtun dish, yogurt, fresh green salad and nan (bread).
"Mullah Baradar's arrest has opened up a Pandora's box of conspiracy theories,"
I venture. "Some people say he was abandoned by Mullah Omar. Some say he had
been talking with the Afghan government and the United Nations and that's why
he was disliked by the ISI and was arrested. There is also a theory that
through his arrest Pakistan wanted to open communication with the Taliban. What
do the Taliban think?"
"Mullah Baradar was part of the Taliban and there was no trust deficit between
him and Mullah Omar. However, it is entirely false that he was part of any
reconciliation process or that he held any talks with anybody. At the same
time, keep in mind that it is a Taliban policy that the minute one of their men
is arrested, they abandon all links with him so there is no chance of any
communication through him or any other detained leader," Abdullah says.
I interject: "I heard from the Punjabi camp [non-Pashtun militants] as well as
from al-Qaeda that Mullah Omar was communicating through Mullah Baradar with
[Saudi intelligence chief] Prince Muqrin, who then passed on messages to
Washington and the Afghan government. Arsala Rahmani [a former Taliban minister
now part of the political process in Kabul] also told me that those talks
collapsed only because the Barack Obama administration pushed for a troop surge
in Afghanistan."
"There is not a shred of truth in this statement. Neither the Punjabis nor
al-Qaeda could know about the Taliban's internal affairs. It is all gossip or
their speculation - like the speculation that there were talks in Dubai between
Mullah Baradar and Abdul Qayyum [Afghan President Hamid Karzai's brother].
People speculate like this because Karzai and Baradar come from the same tribe
[Popalzai Durrani], but it is all speculation. And people like Arsala Rahmani
could not be aware of the situation. Whether it is Arsala Rahmani or Abdul
Wakeel Mutawakil [a former Taliban minister recently taken off a United Nations
list that had banned him from traveling and frozen his assets], the Taliban
don't want to keep any contact with them. The Taliban do not even have anything
to do with Mullah Abdul Salam Zaeef [the Taliban's former ambassador to
Pakistan]," says Abdullah.
His comment on Zaeef surprises me. Zaeef was arrested by Pakistan and handed
over to the US soon after the Taliban's defeat in Afghanistan in 2001. He spent
many years at the US's Guantanamo detention facility in Cuba before being
released. He now lives in Kabul but under tight security; officially, he cannot
leave the city without informing the local administration. He is widely
believed to be an important go-between for the Taliban and the Afghan
government. He publicly says he is still loyal to the Taliban.
Abdullah disagrees. "He moves to Saudi Arabia. He goes to Dubai frequently, and
you call him a detainee? Mullah Omar sent him a message, telling him to run
away and join the resistance. He turned down the order, which means he defied
Mullah Omar. We are fully knowledgeable that he is in a position to dodge his
security and he could have come to us, but he refused and now he is issuing
statements as if he is still a Talib. He is not a Talib. We have nothing to do
with him, and neither are we responsible for any of his statements," Abdullah
says.
I move the conversation on, asking about supposed talks between the Taliban and
the Afghan government.
"I will tell you exactly what happened. You know that the Taliban had close
ties with Saudi Arabia, so we received a message from there. Ameerul Momineen
[Mullah Omar] sent Syed Tayyab Agha to Saudi Arabia as he is in charge of
political affairs. Tayyab Agha met with Prince Muqrin, but you could not call
it dialogue for reconciliation," explains Abdullah.
"Prince Muqrin emphasized that there should be a dialogue process between the
Afghan government and the Taliban so that foreign forces could leave
Afghanistan. Tayyab, on behalf of Mullah Omar, asked Muqrin why Saudi Arabia
was interested in such dialogue. Was it because of Osama bin Laden? Muqrin said
this was not the case. Then Tayyab asked him whether Saudi Arabia had any
particular agenda. He denied this too. Tayyab returned from Saudi Arabia and
briefed Mullah Omar. Later, Mullah Omar sent a message to Muqrin, saying that
it appeared Saudi Arabia only wanted dialogue with the Taliban on somebody
else's behalf. The Taliban do not want to hold such dialogue, so that was the
end of the communication," Abdullah says.
"When did Tayyab go to Saudi Arabia?"
"About four to five months ago."
"And nobody spotted Tayyab traveling to Saudi Arabia?"
"Has anybody traced me moving here and there? It is the same with
Tayyab."
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