A former Pakistan Senator, who is the former president of the country’s Human Rights Commission and one of Pakistan’s most highly regarded experts on Afghanistan and the Taliban has said “the Taliban is an instrument of Pakistan’s strategic depth intended to deconstruct Afghan identity”.
Afrasiab Khattak also called the Taliban “a demolition squad to destroy Afghan identity”, the Taliban militia “the most allied ally of the Pakistan army” and the Taliban leadership, “the most allied allies of Pakistan”.
He pointedly said Pakistan is using the Taliban “to reshape Afghan nationhood” and that “Pakistan generals want to recast Afghanistan in their own image”.
In a 43-minute interview to Karan Thapar for The Wire, former Senator Khattak explained that the ISI’s aim is to secure strategic depth in Afghanistan by stressing the Muslim part of Afghanistan’s identity and undermining or attempting to eradicate the Afghan part of that identity.
This is why, he says, the Taliban have replaced the much-loved Afghan flag, the country’s national anthem and dismissed the concept of Jirga, which they believe is not part of Sharia. This is also why, when they ruled in the ’90s, they rechristened Radio Afghanistan the Voice of Sharia.
Speaking specifically about the new caretaker government announced on Tuesday, Senator Khattak said the 33 ministers represent factions of the Taliban that emerged from Pakistani madrassas. He said the visit by the ISI Chief, Lt. Gen. Faiz Hameed, was designed to ensure the right people were placed in critical positions in government.
As he put it: “The high profile Kabul visit by DG ISI represents public ownership by Pakistan security state of the Taliban’s invasion of Afghanistan.”
At one point in the interview, Khattak referred to the Doha wing of the Taliban as “The Taliban’s Sinn Fein”. By this he meant that real power in the Taliban lies with its military factions, at the heart of which is the Haqqani Network. Just as the Sinn Fein provided a political exterior for the Irish Republican Army so, too, the Doha faction has provided an outward image for the Taliban. He also suggested that the image created in Doha was deceptive and not the real truth about the Taliban.
Protesters gather around a car with the Taliban flag raised atop it during the anti-Pakistan protest in Kabul, Afghanistan, September 7, 2021. Photo: WANA (West Asia News Agency) via Reuters
He said the Haqqani network had been the favourites of Pakistan from 1974 when Jalaluddin Haqqani, it’s founder, set up his base in Waziristan. Senator Khattak says most of Jalaluddin Haqqani’s sons were born and brought up in Pakistan. He said the Haqqanis are “a complete product of the ISI”.
Khattak said there are problems and internal contradictions between the Haqqanis and other factions of the Taliban. The Haqqanis were the first to arrive in Kabul and take control of the capital. The Kandahar Taliban came later.
In the interview, Khattak repeatedly said the ISI is using the Taliban as a demolition squad to deconstruct Afghanistan’s identity but, he added, Afghan people will not accept this and Afghanistan’s identity will reassert itself. He also said it may not take as long as it did in the 1990s for that to happen and for Taliban to be pushed aside.
Khattak also said the aim of the Taliban was “to push back Afghanistan to the Stone Age”.
Speaking about the new Taliban government’s attitude to India, Senator Khattak said it will be dictated by the ISI. Since Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi has said two months ago that India’s role is larger than it ought to be, the Taliban government, with Sirajudin Haqqani as Interior Minister, will seek to diminish and reduce India’s role.
Also read | India and the Taliban: The Case for Constructive Engagement
More importantly, Khattak added that until and unless India’s relationship with Pakistan changes New Delhi should not expect to be able to establish a good working relationship with Taliban-ruled Afghanistan. The Taliban, he said, will take its cue from the ISI.
Asked by The Wire about the Taliban’s connection with Jaish and LeT, Khattak said the Taliban has “close relations with both but particularly with the LeT”. He said the LeT has “on a large scale” supported and assisted the training of the Taliban.
Khattak told The Wire that the impression in some quarters that the Taliban has changed because of initial statements made by Zabiullah Mujahid was just “deception”. He firmly said “the Taliban has not changed”. He also said this attempt to deceive the world through rhetoric and Zabiullah Mujahid’s statements is “confined to Kabul”. He added “in the provinces they are killing people”. He particularly cited Badakhshan, on the border with Tajikistan.
Finally, Khattak was asked, given that this is a caretaker interim government, as to what the final political system the Taliban wants to put in place. He said the Taliban themselves do not know. However, revealingly, he added the advice being given by the ISI is “to bring their Islamic Emirate under the cover of the 1964 Constitution of Afghanistan”. That was a monarchical constitution under former King Zahir Shah.
Senator Khattak said the ISI’s advice is to elevate supreme leader Haibatullah Akhundzada to the status of king. He said the ISI believe this would be acceptable to the international community because it would be under a former Afghan constitution i.e. it would be an Afghan-made solution adapted to the requirements of the Taliban.
Khattak added that he’s not aware of what the Taliban’s response to this advice is.
Watch the full interview here.