Taliban an incubator for terrorism, must be destroyed

Continued from our previous issue, this is the second part of
Omaid Weekly's December 15 interview with Mr. James A. Phillips. Mr. Phillips is a reputable international affairs analyst and research fellow at The Heritage Foundation, a prestigious think-tank in the US capital.

Similar to this newspaper's insistence on an immediate shift in American policy on Afghanistan, Mr. Phillips' recent analytical papers -- available through www.omaid.com -- highlight Washington's need to do its part in defeating the Taliban war machine.

This militia, created and funded by Pakistan's ISI military intelligence agency, is responsible for ethnic cleansing and other untold atrocities in Afghanistan. The Taliban have also entered into a mutually beneficial relationship with international terrorist groups, such as Osama bin Laden's Al-Qaida organization. These militants provide the Taliban with both money and manpower in their war against Afghanistan's national resistance force. In return, the militia provides terrorists with a safe haven in which they can recruit and train hundreds of new followers from around the world.

These issues were the focus of our interview with Mr. Phillips:

Omaid Weekly: You suggest [in "The Cole Bombing...Moving Beyond 'The Usual Suspects'"] that the US "destroy" the Taliban militia. Many Afghan circles and non-Afghan analysts have promoted this, as well. Why do you believe the US has not done so already? Does the US -- namely the Clinton administration -- see a possible use for the militia?

James Phillips: To answer that question, you have to go back to the end of the Soviet war [in Afghanistan]. The US, at that time the Bush administration -- and even towards the end of the Reagan administration -- made a decision to give Moscow a decent interval to pull out of Afghanistan -- kind of a face-saving exit in which the US would cut its aid [to the Afghan mujahideen] once the Soviets had pulled out. 

Unfortunately, when US aid was cut, it undermined the more moderate mujahideen groups and helped fuel Pakistani expectations that they could win an easy victory through Hezb-e Islami. When that didn't work, they put together the Taliban. Initially, [the Taliban] may have been spontaneous but [Islamabad] saw that they were a useful tool and quickly built them up -- they aided [the militia] militarily, economically and logistically.

Initially, people weren't sure what the Taliban were. I remember being puzzled myself. At first, they seemed like a good thing in the sense that they brought peace in areas that they controlled. And from an American point of view, they also had the advantage of being anti-Iranian, which we were busily containing. And they held out the prospect for a possible oil pipeline that some American oil companies and Saudi oil companies thought they could build and make money from. But I think the pipeline was a pipe dream.

It quickly became clear that the Taliban was extremely radical. They were committing atrocities. From an American perspective, they were doing horrible things to women, although to me, what the Taliban are doing to men is just as bad. I think since [US Secretary of State] Madeleine Albright is a woman, [the women's issue] had a resonance with her. And I think that elevated Afghan issues [in the US]. Plus, I think the Clinton administration was particularly sensitive on foreign policy issues important to domestic political constituencies, particularly women and liberal, human rights constituencies. And so they became more focused on that and eventually they turned against the Taliban. But for me, it was almost for the wrong reason.

The more important reason for me is that I see the Taliban as an incubator for Islamic viruses. Everyone talks about bin Laden, but it's more than just bin Laden -- he's just the tip of the iceberg. You have Central Asian radicals, Chechen radicals -- one of bin Laden's supporters in Chechnya actually triggered, by himself, the second Chechen war. And bin Laden is essentially fighting a war against the United States. It's a very dangerous situation, and that to me is the number one reason.

As long as the Taliban maintain this radical ideology, they will be a threat to American interests and to the interests of peace loving Muslims -- probably more of a threat to Muslims than to Westerners. And ultimately, the Taliban are a threat to Pakistan, too, which is becoming increasingly Talibanized. Much to their future regret, the Pakistanis have turned a blind eye to this.

OW: You mention US neglect of Afghanistan since the Soviet pullout. How much stock do you put into allegations, especially by some US Congressman, that the Clinton administration played a hand in the creation or success of the Taliban militia?

JP: No, not to the [militia's] creation. There are always people in the [US] State Department that say it's better to deal with the devil you know than to be confronted with the devil you don't know. And for that reason they always argue for engagement. I'm hearing this all the time regarding Iran or Iraq -- they say "we have to reach out to these people and help them to eventually moderate their policies."

I don't think the US created the Taliban. The Taliban, to me, is almost a wholly-owned subsidiary of Pakistan, the ISI -- and maybe with some Saudis grandfathered in. Once the Taliban were there, there may have been secret contacts with the Clinton administration. But, I'm not sure that the aim was to strengthen the Taliban. If there were such contacts, it probably was -- at least I would hope -- to feel-out what the Taliban's policy would be. If they did strengthen the Taliban, it would be a major political controversy.

Continued in our next issue.

Afg's UN Ambassador: ISI guilty of war crimes

Following are excerpts from the Provisional Record of a 19 December 2000 meeting of the United Nations Security Council, obtained by Omaid Weekly. "The situation in Afghanistan" was the agenda of the meeting, to which Pakistan was not invited. A resolution, cited in the text below, imposing sanctions with new measures against the Taliban, particularly a ban on weapons which the militia receives from Pakistan, was passed later that day by the Council.

The President [of the SC]: I give the floor to the representative from Afghanistan [eds: Dr. A.G. Ravan Farhadi, one of Afghanistan's most respected statesman and scholars, is Afghanistan's Ambassador to the United Nations].

Mr. Farhadi: In resolution 1267 (1999) of 15 October 1999, the Security Council made it clear that the suppression of international terrorism is essential for the maintenance of international peace and security. In the same resolution, the Council forcefully condemned the fact that terrorists continue to be made welcome and trained in the areas controlled by the Taliban, and that acts of terrorism take place there.

The Pakistan-Taliban-bin Laden alliance has categorically refused to cooperate with the international community or to put an end to the training and haven it provides to international terrorists. In addition, the alliance has given new dimensions to terrorist activities and to extremists from all corners of the Earth. This fact was mentioned by the Secretary-General in his report of 20 November 2000:

"There have also been persistent reports of the involvement of a substantial number of Arabs, Chechens, Pakistanis, Uighurs and other outsiders fighting alongside the Taliban in Afghanistan." (S/2000/1106, para 37)

In response to that intransigence, the Security Council is considering the imposition of new measures. The Council is studying a new draft resolution in keeping with its responsibilities under the Charter. Here, we are grateful to Council members for having included clear and explicit provisions for the implementation of sanctions in such a way that they will not hamper the provision of humanitarian assistance to the Afghan population. Cautious use will thus be made of sanctions, in order to spare innocent people.

By the terms of the draft resolution, we look forward to the Security Council employing all possible monitoring mechanisms to put a halt to transfers of weapons and ammunition and to the continued dispatch from Pakistan of armed Pakistanis and military personnel who are helping the terrorists in Afghanistan, and so that all Pakistani military personnel and so-called volunteers will immediately leave Afghan soil.

The draft resolution on which the Council will take action today does not deal with a peaceful settlement of the present conflict in Afghanistan, and it is silent on Pakistan's well-known aggression in Afghanistan. The draft resolution addresses one specific issue: terrorism originating from the part of Afghan territory that is under military occupation by the diabolical Pakistani-Taliban-bin Laden alliance.

The Islamic State of Afghanistan condemns terrorism in all its forms and manifestations. We affirm that the suppression of international terrorism is essential for the maintenance of international peace and security. We consider that terrorism is but one of the many effects of the military aggression against Afghanistan. The Security Council should therefore address the problem of Afghanistan in its entirety. It is our fear that the Pakistan-Taliban-bin Laden axis could interpret the draft resolution before the Council to mean that they can continue their atrocities against the Afghan people, so long as they simply put an end to their activities outside Afghan territory.

We note with regret that the Security Council is not considering the active role of the Pakistani military junta and Pakistan's well-known military intelligence service, the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), and the close links between that organization and international terrorist networks. In fact, the ISI constantly recruits, among "Islamic" extremist groups, people whom it trains, arms and sends to Afghanistan accompanied by Pakistani military personnel.

We convey our gratitude to the Secretary-General, who in paragraphs 23 and 81 of his 20 November 2000 report on the situation in Afghanistan indicated that there are a significant number of non-Afghan combatants, essentially from Pakistan, fighting alongside the Taliban; most are from Pakistani madrassahs. In his report, the Secretary-General adds that there is outside involvement in the planning and logistical support of Taliban military operations.

On the basis of what the Secretary-General has reported, we are in a position to affirm that there are very close ideological, organizational, political and military links between the international terrorist network and Pakistan's ISI. Pakistani religious schools, or madrassahs, are centers for indoctrination and regimentation, used by the Pakistani army to train armed personnel. Thus, in July 1999, following the withdrawal of soldiers and extremist fighters from the Kargil region of Kashmir, some of those fighters were taken, in Pakistani military trucks, north of Kabul to the Afghan provinces of Parwan and Kapisa to reinforce Taliban armed forces in their acts of repression based on ethnic segregation. Pakistani prisoners held by our side have made unambiguous confessions to that effect.

The Islamic State of Afghanistan continues to be gravely concerned at the recent deterioration of the situation in Afghanistan and in neighboring countries, which is a direct consequence of the policy of military occupation and the training of terrorists endorsed by the Pakistani army; we therefore wish to make the following comments:

First, the population of Afghanistan has undergone genuine persecution by terrorists and by elements affiliated with a whole range of international terrorists organizations from South-East Asia, South Asia and the Middle East, whom the Pakistani army continues to recruit through its military intelligence service, the ISI. Pakistan remains the sole provider of weapons and material to the terrorists who, in ever greater numbers, come to Pakistan from all over the world.

Secondly, the Islamic State of Afghanistan affirms that it is inadmissible for Afghan soil to continue to be used to wage war and commit hostile acts that jeopardize the security and stability of third States in the region and beyond. Pakistan will bear sole responsibility for possible retaliation against Afghanistan, which could involve loss of life and the destruction of property.

We stress that the Islamic State of Afghanistan is convinced that the acts just described constitute flagrant violations of the Charter of the United Nations. The Security Council should immediately be seized of the questions of armed aggression against Afghanistan, which falls under Chapter VII, Articles 39 to 42, of the Charter. Pakistan's aggression and the terrorism and other activities sponsored by Pakistan pose a threat to regional security and hamper development and cooperation in the region; they should be denounced, condemned and combated through appropriate measures.

The Pakistani military intelligence service, the ISI, must be recognized as a criminal organization responsible for the war of aggression, for crimes against humanity and war crimes. The Pakistani army must no longer think it is safe from being identified as responsible. We demand that the Council appoint a commission of inquiry to investigate the issue of military aggression in Afghanistan and to present its conclusions to the Council. In addition to noting Pakistan's aggression in Afghanistan, the Council could decide to compensate Afghanistan, through those bearing responsibility, for the material damage, the loss of human life and the plundering of Afghan cultural property caused by Pakistan's war of aggression, which Pakistan has been waging since April 1992.

For justice to prevail, the real instigator of and key figure in the instability, the center of indoctrination and regimentation of terrorists and the cause of tension in the region -- Pakistan -- must be the object of future sanctions by the Security Council. That would constitute the real effective solution to the Afghan problem.

This draft resolution clearly shows that foreign elements, coming basically from Pakistan and in alliance with terrorists from different countries, are those really responsible for the terrorist activities. The Afghan people themselves have never made use of terrorism. The Taliban have given an inaccurate picture of Afghanistan -- and inaccurate image of the Afghan people to the world at large.