U.S. will fail to split Taliban, ex-Pakistan spy says
Wed Jan 27, 2010
By Zeeshan Haider
RAWALPINDI, Pakistan (Reuters) - Attempts by the Afghan government and its allies to split the Taliban by luring away foot soldiers and isolating leaders will fail, said a retired Pakistani security agent who knows Taliban leaders.
The United States and its allies are hoping 30,000 additional soldiers and a fresh commitment to Afghanistan, including funding for a formal reintegration programme for Taliban fighters, will help break the insurgency.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai is expected to present details of his plan to reach out to the Taliban at an international conference in London on Thursday.
But retired Brigadier Sultan Amir Tarar, a former senior member of Pakistan's main Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) spy agency, said Taliban fighters would not break with their leader, Mullah Mohammad Omar.
Tarar said Omar was a "symbol of resistance" against U.S.-led foreign forces in Afghanistan and any reconciliation plan would fail if he were excluded.
"He's respected by Afghans for resisting foreign occupation. How can he be sidelined or dumped at a time when Taliban are winning the war?" he told Reuters in an interview in Rawalpindi
"No plan will work without him and anyone who ditches him would no longer be a Taliban," said Tarar, a tall man with a long grey beard and white turban.
Commonly known as Colonel Imam, Tarar worked with the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency during the U.S.-backed jihad, or holy war, in Afghanistan against Soviet occupying forces in the 1980s.
He trained many mujahideen leaders, including Omar.
Afghanistan descended into bloody chaos after the withdrawal of Soviet forces in 1989 and Pakistan nurtured the Taliban in the early 1990s when its young members emerged to fight the factions battling for power.
"WISE PEOPLE"
Tarar also served as Pakistani consul general in Herat in western Afghanistan during Taliban rule and only left the country in 2001 when Pakistan officially abandoned the Taliban and joined the U.S.-led war against militancy.
But Tarar held out hope for talks with Taliban leaders, saying they were sensitive to international fears about the use of Afghan soil by militants. But he said they would never hand over old al Qaeda friends as a matter of principle.
"Taliban are wise people and they may accommodate international concerns on militancy but they will never compromise on their principles and positions," he said.
Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, Washington's No. 1 enemy, is believed to be hiding with senior associates somewhere along the remote Afghanistan-Pakistan border.
Western powers backing Afghanistan are increasingly entertaining the possibility of compromise with Taliban leaders but they would insist the Taliban cease helping al Qaeda.
Tarar said Omar held him in high esteem for his help for the Afghan jihad and used to stand up in respect when he visited.
But Pakistan lost the trust of the Taliban after it withdrew support after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States.
Pakistan is reaching out to all levels of the Taliban to encourage reconciliation, its Foreign Ministry said on Saturday. Tarar said he might be willing to help but had reservations.
"I and my colleagues can play any role to bring peace in Afghanistan. We will beg them but there is no guarantee that the Americans are sincere," he said.
The Americans and their allies would never win, he said.
"You saw the fate of the Soviet Union. The Taliban have proved in the past nine years that they can defeat superior technology."
U.S. will fail to split Taliban, ex-Pakistan spy says
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