Sleeping with the enemy

It has been evident that Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani is moving closer to Pakistan Yet the announcement of an MOU between the two countriesrsquo intelligence agencies was a surprise to many including his own deputy Dr Abdullah Abdullah who learnt of this from former President Hamid Karzai The National Directorate of Security NDS and InterServices Intelligence ISI signed a memorandum of understanding May 18 to ldquojointly fight terrorismrdquo and ldquoenemy espionage agenciesrdquo The agreement would allow ISI to probe terrorist suspects in Afghan detentionAfghan firefighters respond to a Taliban attack in Kabul Afghanistan on Wednesday An allnight siege in an upscale neighbourhood of Afghanistanrsquos capital ended in the early hours yesterday morning PicAPThe definition of terrorism is different for the two countries For Afghanistan the terrorists are the Taliban the Haqqani Networks and other Pakistanbased terror groups operating into Afghanistan Pakistan is interested in neutralising the TTP and strengthening the Afghan Taliban Inexplicably Sartaj Aziz Nawaz Sharifrsquos Adviser on National Security and Foreign Policy said in Islamabad on May 25 that Afghanistanrsquos enemies were Pakistanrsquos enemies Now this is confusing as Pakistan has nursed the Taliban and others for two decadesAfghanistan has long considered ISI as the enemy espionage agency for Pakistan it is the RampAW Indiarsquos Research and Analysis Wing The ISI would train and equip NDS personnel and the two agencies would mould public opinion and narrative about Pakistan in Afghanistan Both the houses of Afghan parliament reacted sharply The Senate chairman Fazl Muslimyar described Pakistan as Afghanistanrsquos enemy which would continue to plot to destroy Afghanistan The ferocity of this and other reactions has probably surprised Ghani and led to backtracking on this issue in KabulPakistanrsquos singular goal has been to dominate Afghanistan and keep India out It now seeks to keep that countryrsquos intelligence agency under its control It sees a vacuum in Afghanistan with the Americans leaving and preoccupied with the turmoil in West Asia the Taliban on the ascendant with the Afghan National Security Forces ANSF unable to handle the situation and with China now increasingly involved in the dialogue with the TalibanA highlevel Afghan delegation comprising Minister of Defence Mohammed Masoom Stanekzai and Dr Abdullah Abdullah met Taliban leaders Mullahs Abdul Jalil Hassan Rahmani and Abdul Razaq All three are Pakistanbased and close to the Quetta Shura The meeting was held in Urumqi and both Chinese and ISI representatives participatedThe USinspired Qatar process of Taliban negotiations seems to be over and the ChinesePakistani process has taken overPakistan sees this as its best opportunity Writing in the Dawn newspaper former Pakistan Ambassador Munir Akram hoped there would be international recognition through the UNSC for Mullah Omar as the legitimate representative of the Taliban in the negotiations Also that the Afghan government should acknowledge legitimacy of the Taliban and agree to power sharing with them In return Pakistan would use its powers to bring all Taliban to the table Finally the US Pakistan and Afghanistan could talk to the Taliban to help solve issues and China should help the peace process There is no room for India in these calculations The Talibanled summer offensive has gained momentum with six terrorist attacks in Kabul this month and more attacks were threatened There were attacks in Zabul Kandahar and Helmand with numerous soldiers and police personnel killed The Taliban were also making headway in the Kunduz and Badakshan provinces in the north Facing this Taliban onslaught in the north it appears that the government has sought the help of old warlords to form local militias in order to stop the Taliban It could be said that the Kabul government is bolstering its limited counter insurgency capability through its own version of BlackwaterPakistani authorities are not even remotely embarrassed about their linkages with the Taliban or the Haqqanis On the other hand they maintain that the next time they would do it better whatever that means Pakistan has used religious elements to curb nationalist sentiments in Balochistan and Sindh The Taliban were to serve two purposes mdash curb Pushtun nationalism through their extreme religiosity and help provide strategic depth in Afghanistan Unexpectedly for Pakistan the Taliban became a political force with transborder connections and refused to recognise the Durand Line They have adhered to their own ideology close to the Al Qaeda In the process religious extremists in Pakistan have succeeded in making space for themselves inside PakistanPakistan is certainly not going to let the gains of the last two decades be wastedThere are now three strands to Pakistanrsquos strategy One to keep the pressure on Afghanistan through increased Taliban terrorist attacks two take over the dialogue process with the help of China and three tie all this up with an ISINDS dealThe writer is a former chief of Research and Analysis Wing RAW