Islamabad, March 10: Many have hailed Pakistan’s recent arrests of top Taliban leaders as a sign of significant improvement in intelligence cooperation with the US, but some experts argue this could prove counterproductive by deepening the gap of trust with the resurgent Afghan group and serving arch-foe India.
“Pakistan is certainly moving in a wrong direction,” Lt General rtd Hameed Gul, former chief of the influential Inter Services Intelligence (ISI), told.
“At a time when things are moving towards a political solution of the problem, these arrests have further widened the trust gap between Pakistan and Afghan Taliban, who will have a major role in future Afghanistan.”
Pakistani security forces have arrested a number of top Taliban leaders in recent weeks.
The most important was the arrest last month of Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, Taliban military leader and second-in-command to its supreme leader Mullah Omar.
Gul said the arrests came at a time Taliban are holding contacts with the US and Saudi Arabia to find out a political solution to the Afghan conflict.
“But at this stage, what Pakistan is doing is totally against our future interests in Afghanistan.”
During the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan, Pakistan was a close ally to Afghan groups fighting Soviet troops.
After the Soviet withdrawal, it invoked the anger of these groups when it allied with Gulbadin Hikmatyar and turned its back to the others.
And when Hikmatyar and Burhanuddin Rabbani united, Islamabad created Taliban and forced the then Afghan leadership to flee from Kabul to join anti-Pakistan forces.
Pakistan was one of only three countries that recognized the Taliban regime, which came to power in 1996.
Blunder
“If we continue to displease Afghan Taliban at this juncture, they will be forced to join hands with India,” warns Gul. Saleem Safi, an Islamabad-based expert on Afghan affairs, also faults the current policy about Afghanistan Taliban.
“This is totally an unwise strategy,” he told.
He said the arrests were made at a time Kabul is planning a national Jirga (grand assembly) to negotiate with Taliban.
“We have had a history of blunders. Whenever there is a time to gain the results of our policy, we take a U-turn,” Safi said.
He argues that this is not the first time Pakistan miscalculated its steps regarding Taliban.
“Pakistan, a close US ally in its so-called war on terror, has had a policy of hide and seek about Taliban, which plunged our entire tribal belt into Talibanization,” he said.
“And when initiatives are in process to hold dialogue with them (Taliban), we have once again changed our minds, and are trying our best to make them angry with us.”
Safi urged the Islamabad government to engage Afghan Taliban.
“Whether the Pakistani establishment has had contacts with Taliban or not, the time has come when it must have good contacts with them.
“And if there has already been contacts with them, then they must be strengthened because time is ripe for a political solution to the problem,” he contended.
“But when the time has come to cash in that policy, irrespective of the fact that it was right or wrong, we have once again taken another U-turn, which may completely ruin our interests in future Afghanistan.”
Serving India
The analysts cautioned that the Pakistani u-turn on Taliban plays into the hands of arch-foe India.
“If we continue to displease Afghan Taliban at this juncture, they will be forced to join hands with India,” warns Gul, the former head of ISI, which played a pivotal role in supporting groups fight Soviet occupation troops.
He cites a recent visit by Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to Saudi Arabia as part of New Delhi’s efforts to have a role in Afghanistan.
“India initially tried to settle this issue with Pakistan directly but Pakistan refused to entertain India’s demand without settlement of the core issue of Kashmir,” he said.
“After Pakistan’s refusal, India begged Saudi Arabia to help it out. However, according to my information, Saudi Arabia has told India that it has no direct contact with Taliban therefore it cannot lend any help in this regard.
“But India has seen a glimmer of hope in Pakistan’s unwise and unwanted actions against Afghan Taliban.”
Many analysts believe that India and Pakistan, which have fought three wars since independence from Britain in 1947, are engaged in a proxy war in Afghanistan.
-Agencies