subject: Is The Pakistani Government Supporting The Taliban? [print this page] This is the million dollar question although both the Taliban in Afghanistan and the Pakistani Government strongly deny the allegation, there is a lot of circumstantial evidence which seems to point to the contrary.
First of all I found out that the Pakistani government was actually significant in founding the Taliban. I imagine it was for the purpose of destabilizing the Afghan government and thus gaining more control of the region. They have also used the Taliban to conduct many clandestine operations for them. We will probably never know the fullness of these operations, but you can see that there has to be a strong bond of interdependence between these two organizations. The government of Pakistan was one of only three which recognized the Taliban as a legitimate organization. This should give you another indication of the relationship between these two organizations.
The Pakistani Intelligence organization ISI initially trained and funded the Taliban during its initial years and is alleged to continue to do so until this day. They deny doing so but once again circumstantial evidence points to the contrary. As a matter of fact the allegation that the ISI trains and funds the Taliban has been referred to as the most widely known secret in Pakistan.
The Taliban in Afghanistan have denied that they are getting any support from the Pakistani government and ISI. I hear them talking but I'm not buying. I believe that the main reason that we are having such a hard time ridding Eastern Afghanistan of their influence is because of the help that they are getting from across the border. United States and NATO forces have run into a situation along the border where it is all but impossible to defeat the Taliban. They move freely back and forth across the border and it is almost certain that they are being helped. They conduct raids on the Afghanistan side of the border and are then able to cross back over to rest, recuperate, and rearm unmolested. It is believed that the ISI is providing them with the intelligence that they need in order to conduct their border raids. This would certainly explain why they have been so successful in that part of the country.
The United States government has been frustrated with the efforts of the Pakistani government so far because when they are provided intelligence on the location and disposition of terrorist training camps in Pakistan they have been slow to act on it. The US has conducted many successful drone strikes in Pakistan but drones alone are not enough to dispose of the threat. Troops on the ground are needed. The Pakistanis do not want to allow us to send troops into their country but yet they wont take any action. Now they in fact have conducted several offensives, but only against elements of the Taliban which have conducted terror operations in their country.
I don't think that it is official government policy to aid the Taliban but I do believe that there are a number of high level contacts who are sympathetic to their cause and more than willing to help them out. The ties between the government, the ISI, and the Taliban are too deep to ignore. I am sure that there are many higher ranking officials in each of these organizations who are more than happy to assist the Taliban and do so on a regular basis. Military Ring Express
