Pak intelligence chief's visit to Kabul affirms Taliban is ISI's 'puppet': Ex-Pentagon official

Pakistan intelligence chief Faiz Hameed has taken an "emergency" trip to Kabul to resolve an evolving internal crisis in the Taliban after reports emerged about a clash between factions between in which the group co-founder Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar suffered injuries.

Michael Rubin, a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), writes in US-based 19 forty-five that the Hameed's emergency visit affirms that they are merely an ISI puppet.

The Taliban, which captured Kabul on August 15, has been delaying the announcement of the government formation in Afghanistan over the past few days.

While the group has not issued a statement over it yet, reports have emerged claiming that the government formation has been delayed due to differences between the Taliban and the Haqqani network over power-sharing.

Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, the top Taliban leader who is set to head the new Afghan regime, was injured during the clash and is currently getting treated in Pakistan.

Signalling there a rift in the Taliban, Rubin said that the Haqqani and many other Taliban factions simply do not accept Haibatullah as their leader.

Pakistan intelligence chief Lt Gen Faiz Hameed reached Kabul on Saturday leading a delegation of Pakistani officials.

"There is no official word of the appointment of Haibatullah Akhundzada whom the group's representatives earlier signalled would be the Islamic Emirate's supreme leader based in Kandahar," he writes.

"That delay also postponed Taliban co-founder Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar's efforts to become a political leader in Kabul. The delay may signal a much greater crisis within the Taliban, hence Hameed's emergency trip," Rubin adds.

The Pentagon former official said with his recent visit, Hammed's hand in the toppling of the Afghan government has been exposed.

"With Hameed's hand clearly exposed, the question for US policymakers then becomes why anyone should negotiate or recognize the Taliban when Hameed's emergency visit affirms that they are merely an ISI puppet," he adds.

"A far better approach for Washington, however, may be to designate Faiz Hameed as the terrorist he is and the organization he heads as a terrorist entity which for too long has victimized Afghanistan and undermined any hope Pakistanis have to be a democracy and a normal state," he calls.

Pakistan and its notorious intelligence agency have been accused of supporting the Taliban in taking over Afghanistan.

Experts believe that Pakistan has been a key player in removing the elected Afghan government from power and establishing the Taliban as a decisive power in Afghanistan. Recently, a UN Monitoring report has said that a significant part of the leadership of Al-Qaida resides in Afghanistan and Pakistan border region. In the piece, Saleh hit out at the western power, saying betrayal of Afghanistan by the West is colossal.

Former Afghan vice president Amrullah Saleh has asserted that the Taliban are being micromanaged by Pakistan notorious intelligence agency--the ISI, adding that Islamabad is in-charge of the war-ravaged country effectively as a colonial power.

(ANI)

Also Read:  Taliban being micromanaged by ISI, Pak in-charge of Afghanistan effectively as colonial power: Saleh