Pakistan and Taliban, Are They Brothers Or Rivals?
By Sanskar Shrivastava
When US and Pakistan were busy in fighting Taliban in Afghanistan, Taliban's major leaders and militants were reorganizing and planning their strategy in Pakistan against US. Revealed by George Washington University in America, exposing the double face of Pakistan. Taliban is a strategic asset of Pakistan which helps Pakistan maintain its influence on Afghanistan as well as maintain disruptions in India. Taliban on the other side is also an economical asset of Pakistan which helps Pakistan receive various funds, military and economic aid to destroy it. Pakistan doesn't want to break its own support, hence it has to show the world that it is doing its best in the war against terror and on the other side it has to take care that Taliban doesn't become weak.
Ronald E Neumann, US ambassador to Afghanistan believes that 2005 insurgency in Afghanistan was a direct product of the four years which Taliban had spent reorganizing and re-planning its strategy against US in Pakistan, they were studying the tactics used by Iraqi insurgency to counter US.
The George Washington University rejected Pakistan's claims of not being a safe-haven for terrorists. Terrorism and organisations received full support from ISI (Pakistan's intelligence agency) and sometime from the Army as well. In Mumbai attacks Pakistan's officials from ISI and Marines are still suspected.
Pakistan during the US war against terrorism expressed its concerns to US over Northern Alliance (backed by the West, Russia and India) taking over whole of the Afghanistan. Pakistan which considers Taliban as its strategic and military asset couldn't see it ending and hence tried making US realize that Al-Qaeda is major enemy of US and not the whole of the Taliban. If Pakistan's influence in Afghanistan through Taliban gets over, there is a fear that India may sandwich it from both the sides. As India already maintains military bases in some of the southern former Soviet nations bordering Afghanistan, thus Pakistan backed the idea of classification of Taliban as Good Taliban and Bad Taliban. It supported the plan of America's exit from Afghanistan by setting up the government there including the members from Good Taliban. America, which is out of idea in tackling Taliban, is making mind of withdrawing and still considers this plan under its exit strategy.
A peaceful and stable Afghanistan is supported by all, but everyone wants its influence over it. Afghanistan which acts a gateway to energy rich central Asia and middle east for India. Pakistan wants Afghanistan because it doesn't want any other enemy at its western borders so that it can concentrate much on its eastern border against India. Carrying a dangerous weapon of Taliban, Pakistan has proved that it can use such weapons to protect its own interest.
Sanskar Shrivastava is the author of the blog The World Reporter, where he does analysis and gives opinion on the news which has global impact.
http://www.theworldreporter.com
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