Amrullah Saleh Slams Pakistan
Afghanistan Government had been repeatedly blaming Pakistan for shielding and providing resources to the Taliban terrorists. The Pakistan ISI’s was deeply involved in all the negotiations between the Taliban and the Pakistan government. This has been confirmed through photos showing ISI Chief Hameed Faiz meeting top Taliban leaders in Kandahar.
Pakistan’s strategic objectives in Afghanistan still continues to be countering Indian influence and reducing the spill over of the inevitable Afghan civil war into Pakistani territory. These objectives have been given out in a US government report prepared by the Defence Intelligence Agency. “Pakistan continues to support peace talks, while maintaining ties with the Afghan Taliban,” US Department of State Office of the Inspector General noted.
Now Amrullah Saleh, Afghanistan’s acting president, has slammed Pakistan for colluding with the Taliban to take over the country and sponsor terrorism and insurgency, leading to the fall of the government. As per him thousands of displaced Afghans have been forced to flee to safer areas.
A staunch follower of late Ahmad Shah Massoud, Amrullah Saleh, a native of Panjshir Valley, was a member of the Northern Alliance, which was formed when the Taliban came to power in 1996. He received his military training in Pakistan and in 1997 was appointed by Massoud as the liaison officer of the Northern Alliance in the Afghan Embassy in Tajikistan.
After the Taliban regime was toppled, Amrullah Saleh became the head of the National Directorate of Security in 2004, when Hamid Karzai was the president. Then he served as the interior minister of Ashraf Ghani presidency and later became the first vice president. The Afghan embassy in Tajikistan has put up his photo as the caretaker head of state.
Saleh has accused Pakistan of being at the “service” of Taliban. He said that “It’s very clear that the Taliban were never under pressure; they used Pakistan as their support base. Not sanctuaries, the whole of Pakistan was at the service of Taliban.”
As per Saleh the US attempts to buy Pakistani cooperation with ton of money and defence aid yielded no results. The more they paid, the more it emboldened the Pakistanis to provide more services and aid to the Taliban so the issue of a nuclear state sponsoring terrorism and insurgency against western allies in Afghanistan was never addressed.
However the Afghan leader has not only attacked Pakistan outright. He has also clearly warned that Afghanistan was too big for Pakistan to swallow and too big for Talibs to govern.
The American DIA report for the quarter April 1 to June 30 said the Pakistani government is concerned that a civil war in Afghanistan would have destabilising effects on Pakistan, including an influx of refugees and providing a potential safe haven for anti-Pakistan militants.
During the quarter, financial contributions to the Afghan Taliban increased in the Pakistan border regions, according to media reports, citing eyewitness sources. Solicitation efforts traditionally targeted mosques, but Afghan Taliban militants now openly visit the bazaar areas in nearby Pakistani towns. The militants typically solicit contributions of USD 50 or more from shopkeepers. Local residents told reporters that solicitation efforts were now commonplace in the towns and cities of Quetta, Kuchlak Bypass, Pashtun Abad, Ishaq Abad, and Farooqia.
