M A I N   N E W S

TRIBUNE SPECIAL
How Pak-Taliban nexus works: a factsheet
Tribune News Service

The Pakistan-Taliban nexus was at its height barely a fortnight before the terrorist attack in the USA. According to intelligence reports, a meeting of the Afghan Defence Council (renamed Defence of Pakistan and Afghanistan Council) was held in Islamabad on August 26 in which Pakistan’s former ISI chief, Lieut-Gen Hamid Gul, assured the participants that the supply of more sophisticated weaponry would not be a problem as General Musharraf was committed to supporting the Taliban with whatever means necessary. The meeting was attended by all religious and fundamentalist parties. It unanimously rejected the UNSC (United Nations Security Council) decision to deploy UN monitors in countries neighbouring Afghanistan, including Pakistan, to enforce the UN embargo against Afghanistan.

Flouting the UN resolution with impunity and under the garb of relief supplies to the Afghan people, arms and ammunition are being despatched by Pakistan to the Taliban. The equipment is transported in trucks driven by Afghans to Mardan, Bannu and other locations on the Pakistan-Afghanistan border at night. Three routes are being used. One is via Bannu, Miram Shah (NWFP) and onwards to Narezi, close to Khost (Pakhtia province). The other is from Parachinar (NWFP) to Khost, Gardez (Pakhtia province). The Qaleh Abdullah-Chaman (Baluchistan) route to Kandahar is also used.

The ISI has opened new offices in Kandahar and Kabul. In April this year, Taliban Deputy Minister Ahsan Akhund attended an international Deoband conference and read out a message from Mullah Omar at Taro Jabba, near Peshawar. The conference was organised by Maulana Fazlur Rehman, Jamiatul Ulema-e-Islam (F) chief.

In the last week of June two SSP (Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan) activists, Sardar Sikander and Ishfaq Ahmad, visited Kandahar, Kunduz and Takhar provinces and held discussions with the local Taliban leadership on the deployment of SSP men as also the despatch of more SSP cadres from Pakistan.

According to recent reports, 2,000 Afridis, a large number of them from the Islami Jamaat-e-Tulaba (student wing of the Pakistan-based Jamaat-e-Islami are fighting alongside the Taliban in Takhar province.

Medical treatment continues to be given in Pakistan hospitals to wounded Taliban cadres. A senior Taliban commander, Mullah Rahtamullah, who was seriously injured in the fighting in Takhar province, was flown to Karachi for medical treatment in June.

A factsheet of the Pakistan-Taliban connection is believed to have been given to the US authorities.

The details given in annexure 1 give a clear picture of the involvement of Pakistan nationals:

1. A Pakistan army sub-unit from Peshawar is stationed alongside the intersection of Haji Yakub and the Shahr-e-Nau park in Kabul

2. The 1st battalion of SSG from Cherat HQ has been redeployed in Afghanistan. The Division Commander is permanently based at Fort Attock, Punjab province.

3. A Pakistani special regiment is stationed to the west of the Shahr-e-Nau park in Kabul.

4. A Pakistani parachute regiment is located in the barracks of the 11th Nangarhar Division.

5. Pakistani commando sub-units are stationed in the building of the artillery HQ in the area of the former 110 Division in Nangarhar province.

6. The Pakistan Consul-General in Herat is an Adviser to the Taliban on military and political issues. He is a member of Pakistan’s ISI.

7. Faizan, Military Adviser in the South-West group and Mohammad Gul, Military Adviser in Kandahar, are from the ISI.

8. Col Javed Ahmad is the Commander of a Pakistan sub-unit in Mazar-e-Sharief.

9, There is a Pakistani group of military advisers at Bagram air base.

10. 200 Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan activists headed by Riaz Basra are housed in a centre at Rishkor in Kabul province.

11. 300 Pakistani Harkatul Mujahideen activists are housed in the Naglu settlement, Kabul province. A centre of the Hizbul Mujahideen is also situated on the new North Road in Kabul.

12 Some senior Pakistani nationals are also known to be occupying senior posts in the Taliban army. They are Mullah Mohammad Nabi from Quetta; Mullah Israil (who heads an intelligence wing) from Chaman; Mullah Abdullah (a Field Commander) also from Chaman; Mullah Akhtar Mohammad ( he commands the Rishkor 7th Division); and Mullah Abdur Razaq, alias Mullah Mishr (he looks after the security in Kabul) from Quetta.