The Afghan Taliban spokesman, Mullah Abdus Salam Zaeef, has called the London School of Economics (LSE) report “ridiculous and absurd”. He has categorically denied that Pakistan’s intelligence agency ISI “continues to arm and train the Taliban and is even represented on the group’s leadership council despite US pressure to sever ties”. The Pakistan Army spokesman has called it rubbish.

But apart from Mullah Zaeef’s vehement denial, the report itself seems concocted, without giving enough information on how the Pakistan military is engaged in quelling terrorists’ activities in the Fata and Pakhtunkhwa province, coinciding with the recently-launched and much-trumpeted Kandahar offensive.

Those who prepared the report do not seem to have sufficient knowledge even about who is heading the ISI. The blame on ISI must also be seen in recent developments in Kabul, under which the Afghan president has sacked the Afghan intelligence RAAM chief, Amrullah Saleh, who accused Karzai of leaning towards Pakistan. For them the Kandahar offensive is crucial and success in Kandahar is even more crucial for them, which is being directly linked to Pakistan army’s likely operation in North Waziristan.

It is ridiculous to say that “Mullah Omar, the Taliban leader, is residing in Quetta, along with other Quetta Shura members.” Nobody asks Washington how come they missed spotting Mullah Omar, Osama Bin Laden or Aiman al-Zawahiri when they have such modern and sophisticated satellite control technology which can pinpoint each and every micro-inch of the globe through cameras and surveillance,? After all Pakistan is suffering the most because of the war on terror — every other day there is a 9/11 in Pakistan, more than 3,000 of its soldiers and over 10,000 people have died. How can Pakistan and its intelligence agencies support terrorists that are playing havoc with the lives of Pakistanis?

The government must take this report also in the context of Robert Blake’s statement in which he accuses Pakistan of cross-border infiltration into India, which means India has also been alerted against Pakistan to build up pressure for launching an operation in North Waziristan as early as possible so that Kandahar offensive results can be achieved in accordance with their own choosing. It is hoped that the Pakistan army chief, the president and prime minister and the premier intelligence agency would not be coerced to follow in the footsteps of the Americans but act in accordance with the ground realities.

ESCHMALL SARDAR
Peshawar

(II)

This is with reference to London School of Economics’ (LSE) report and news “Ex-Afghan intelligence chief behind anti-Pakistan propaganda” (June 14).

It is sad to note that despite Pakistan’s all-out efforts to fight terrorism and restore peace in Afghanistan, such news and reports manage to make headlines in the international media. However, to the dismay of anti-Pakistan/ISI propaganda-mongers, the news has come as a reminder of the fact that CIA-RAW-RAAM nexus is in full swing in Afghanistan to implement their agenda of pushing Pakistan into anarchy and use Afghanistan as their protectorate to pursue their interests in energy-rich Central Asia.

The truth is that the LSE report seems concocted, baseless and a matter of routine reporting. The US, India and any other country with vested interests, need to refrain themselves from using Afghanistan to fight proxy wars against their rivals.

As far as Pakistan is concerned, the world needs to understand that a stable Afghanistan is in the best interest of Pakistan. Therefore, it will not dare do anything to destabilise Afghanistan. At the same time, Pakistan cannot allow India or any other country to exploit Afghan soil and resources to malign or destabilise Pakistan as well.

If US wants peace endeavours in Afghanistan to bear fruit, then it needs to realise and contain Indian efforts to play politically-motivated games in Afghanistan, which are extremely dangerous for America to succeed in Afghanistan.

In the wider interest of humanity, the international media need to learn to put an end to the ‘blame-game’ and the ‘do-more’ rhetoric against Pakistan.

A’AYAN HUSSAIN
Islamabad

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