Pakistan Admits of Having Brought up and Trained Top Taliban Leaders, India See Pakistan’s Hands in Al Qaeda’s Call to “Liberate Kashmir”

Manas Dasgupta

NEW DELHI, Sept 2: Even as India saw Pakistan’s hand behind an Al Qaeda statement calling for “Global Jihad” to liberate all “Islamic  lands” including Kashmir, Pakistan exposed itself before the world with one of its ministers admitting that “all top Taliban leaders were born and brought up in Pakistan.

Pakistan interior minister Sheikh Rashid has said in an interview with a section of the media that Pakistan had taken care of the Taliban for a long time. “All top Taliban leaders were born and brought up in Pakistan. This has been our ‘service’ that we trained them and many more might be studying,” Sheikh Rashid said.

Contradicting himself at the same time, he countered the international criticism of Pakistan aiding the Taliban and said, “Mullah Baradar was in Pakistan jail. America asked us to release him. We want peace on the Pakistan-Afghanistan border. Peace suits both Pakistan and Afghanistan border,” Sheikh Rashid said.

Indian government sources said on Thursday that the content and tenor of the Al Qaeda statement clearly show Pakistan’s hand behind it. After the last American soldier left Afghanistan, the terror outfit Al Qaeda released a statement in which it called for “global jihad” to liberate “Islamic lands”, and mentioned Kashmir. The inclusion of Kashmir and omission of Chechnya and Xinjiang exposes the hand of Pakistan in Qaeda’s ominous statement, the sources said.

“The Qaeda statement talking about transnational jihad is a cause for concern. It is intriguing that Kashmir was included in the statement as it was never on the agenda of the Taliban earlier. The Pakistan ISI is behind this statement of Qaeda,” officials said. The statement will embolden Pakistan-based terror outfits like Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammad in attacks in India, government sources said.

A senior government official said the Qaeda statement is still being analysed, but it is a serious cause for concern for India. “Al Qaeda is trying to radicalise Muslims in the world – it is dangerous for humanity. Pakistan is pushing ahead its agenda,” he said.

The Pakistan minister’s statement about bringing up the Taliban leaders comes at a time when Pakistan is officially throwing its weight behind Afghanistan and is also refuting allegations that Pakistan had a hand in the fall of Afghanistan. Pakistan foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi on Wednesday said the world must not abandon Afghanistan as that would have dangerous consequences. “Such a move would have dangerous consequences and no one would be spared,” the foreign minister said.

This is not the first time that Pakistan leaders admitted the country’s link with the Taliban. A ruling party leader Neelam Irshad Sheikh had earlier said the Taliban would help Pakistan to “liberate” Kashmir.

Pakistan’s aid to the Taliban remains an open secret as Pakistan attempts hard to distance itself from the Taliban. Reports have revealed that in the last phone call between US President Joe Biden and then Afghan President Ashraf Ghani on July 23, Ghani informed Biden that Afghanistan was under full-scale invasion and the Taliban were not alone. There was full support of Pakistan and several international terrorists, mostly from Pakistan, had already infiltrated Afghanistan at that time.

Pakistan’s ambassador to the United States, Asad Majeed Khan, has recently countered the allegation that Pakistan had a crucial role behind the rise of the Taliban in his scathing letter where he said the fall of Kabul was because of the corrupt army and not Pakistan.

The omission of Chechnya in Russia and China’s Xinjiang among targets of “liberation” through jihad is significant and telling. The Qaeda statement said: “Liberate the Levant, Somalia, Yemen, Kashmir and the rest of the Islamic lands from the clutches of the enemies of Islam. O’ Allah! Grant freedom to Muslim prisoners across the world.”

Another aspect being studied by the government is the presence of the families of most Al Qaeda sympathisers and terrorists in Iran. There are indications that many of them will return to Afghanistan now. “Though it’s a Shia-dominated country, history has shown that as far as tactical advantages are concerned, both Shia and Sunni can work, if not together, then at least not against each other,” an officer explained.

With the Taliban claiming to the world that it will be different this time round, India is watching how the assurances play out.

In meetings in Delhi and Kashmir, the fallout of the Afghanistan developments on the Valley has been discussed threadbare. Special attention is on growing instances of infiltration and launch pads being reactivated along the Line of Control. Sources say chatter being intercepted by agencies indicates that abandoned launch pads across the LoC have been reactivated.

Even though the Taliban never showed clear interest in Kashmir and has been reassuring the world that it has changed its tactics, the fact is that it has allowed many terror groups, including the Harkat-ul Ansar – an amalgamation of Harkat-ul-Mujahideen and Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami – to use Afghan soil for pushing terrorists into Kashmir.

Intelligence agencies say Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Maulana Masood Azhar used to run a terror camp in Khost in Afghanistan before he used the Harkat-ul-Ansar to launch jihad in Kashmir after the Soviet-Afghan war. The Taliban, ousted from power in its first stint by the US after the 9/11 attacks, insists it will not let Afghanistan fall into the hands of terrorists.

Sources said it is worrying that in their second stint, the Taliban has armed itself with better weapons, mostly captured after the exit of US troops. The Al Qaeda in the Indian subcontinent has been operating under the radar of security agencies. The AQIS or Qaeda’s “Indian Subcontinent” unit has reportedly consolidated its presence in Afghanistan by embedding fighters in the Taliban.

“Pakistan has been using Afghan soil to launch and train terrorists, so we have to be aware of new dynamics unfolding each passing minute,” said an officer.

Meanwhile, a former senior American diplomat warned the US that it was required to closely watch China as it might try to take over the Bagram air force base in Afghanistan following the Taliban’s takeover of the war-torn country and use Pakistan to get stronger to go against India,

America’s former envoy to the United Nations Nikki Haley said President Joe Biden has lost the trust and confidence of American allies after his hasty decision to withdraw troops from Afghanistan. She said there are many challenges in front of the US.

The US needs to make sure that Americans are protected and the country’s cyber-security is strong “because actors like Russia are going to continue to hack us because we show no signs of willingness to fight back,” she said.

“We need to watch China because I think you are going to see China make a move for Bagram Air Force Base. I think they are also making a move in Afghanistan and trying to use Pakistan to get stronger to go against India. So, we have got a lot of issues,” she said.

In July, the US military left Bagram Airfield – its key base in Afghanistan – after nearly 20 years. At its height, Bagram base was home to tens of thousands of US troops.

“The biggest thing he (Biden) should do is strengthen our allies, strengthen those relationships, modernise our military, and make sure we are prepared for the cyber-crimes and the terrorist crimes that are headed our way,” she said in response to a question.

She said it is time that President Biden’s administration reaches out to its key friends and allies like India, Japan and Australia and assure them that the US will have their back.

“The first thing you should do is immediately start connecting with our allies, whether it’s Taiwan, whether it’s Ukraine, whether it’s Israel, whether it’s India, Australia, Japan, all of them, and reassure them that we will have their back and that we need them as well,” Haley said.