Status: 09.09.2021 03:01 a.m.
The Taliban are again in power in Kabul. Men who are on terrorist lists. Who could be interested in it? Quite a few say that neighboring Pakistan is happy about the change in power – did the country actively support it?
You wish Pakistan dead. Hundreds of people are on the streets of Kabul, many women. It is clear to them who is to blame for the fact that the Taliban are getting stronger again and that their free life is in great danger. It is Pakistan and the powerful ISI intelligence service.
“Pakistan should not interfere in our country,” one protester grumbled. “We are a free country. The ISI should not rule us.” The ISI is suspected of pulling the strings. It fits in with the fact that the head of this secret service landed in Kabul a few days ago. Pictures of it ended up on the net. They show a friendly general who smiles at the visit. “Don’t worry, everything will be fine,” he told the reporter.
What does the visit of the Pakistani intelligence chief mean?
But many are worried. For Thomas Ruttig from the Afghanistan Analysts Network, the Pakistani visit to Kabul is anything but a coincidence: “For me, the ISI chief’s visit to Kabul was a clear sign: This is now our sphere of influence.” And Christian Wagner from the “Science and Politics Foundation” adds:
It didn’t surprise me. On the one hand, of course, one can say that Pakistan has always supported the Taliban as well. On the other hand, the Pakistani side naturally has a number of problems with Afghanistan.
That means: Pakistan itself has repeatedly been the victim of major terrorist attacks. Nonetheless, Prime Minister Imran Khan congratulated the Taliban after they took power in Kabul. They would have broken the chains of slavery.
Leading Taliban have lived in Pakistan for years
However, he rejects allegations that his country is a place of retreat. Where are the places of refuge? Khan asks: “The Taliban do not wear military uniforms. They are normal civilians. How is Pakistan supposed to bring these few down?” But a significant part of the Taliban leadership has lived in Pakistan around the city of Quetta for many years. The Haqqani network, a particularly brutal branch, is at home in the region. And the leader Sarajuddin Haqqani has just been appointed Afghan interior minister. He’s on the US terrorist wanted lists.
Pakistan traditionally plays a dual role. Thomas Ruttig from the Afghanistan Analysts Network describes the strategy: “Of course, Pakistan always supported the Taliban, and at the same time denied it. But you have developed structures with the ISI to deny it.”
Pakistan does not want to get caught between the fronts
Pakistan has always been the target of Taliban attacks. Millions of Afghan refugees entered the country. In Islamabad, the government is certainly satisfied that the Americans have withdrawn from the neighboring country. But nobody wants new refugees. In addition, Pakistan is always afraid of getting caught between the fronts. On the one hand, the archenemy India. On the other side, Afghanistan.
In other words, it is not in the interests of Pakistan if the government in Kabul has good relations with New Delhi. The new government, which also includes Taliban hardliners, cannot be in the interests of Pakistan – says expert Christian Wagner.
Perhaps that also shows that one does not have quite the leverage that one perhaps thinks one has in Islamabad vis-à-vis the Taliban. So maybe the process begins here too, so that the Taliban may gladly accept Pakistan’s support, but then decide according to their own interests.
But without the powerful neighbor in the east there will probably be no peace in Afghanistan. That has not changed after the Taliban came to power.