POREG VIEW: The claim was made by a Taliban commander in an interview to Sky News TV channel. He was quoted as saying “We get donations from our Muslim brothers in Britain for jihad. It is the duty of all Muslims to pay towards fighting a jihad. And this is how we get our money and buy our weapons and carry on fighting.” In what is an admission on record the Taliban leader described Britain as their greatest source of revenue.
The claim need not be brushed aside as an empty boast. Britain has been the happy hunting ground of Islamists of all hues for a long while. Pakistani Britains are a major source of remittances to Pak economy. They are also the source of funds and manpower to Islamists. British authorities have not succeeded in checking the chain. Probably, it is necessary now to go all out against these sources since Europe has emerged as the hotspot on al Qaeda –Taliban map for foot soldiers and the ‘any time expected’ next spectacular strike.
By accident or design the Taliban – Britain funding route has come to light at a time Afghan and American official are holding secret talks with Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, the number two to Mullah Omar. Haqqani Network, which is known as one of Islamabad’s many creations, is an active participant in the talks.
The West, particularly US has been projecting the talks as major breakthrough in the efforts to break the stranglehold of Mullah Omar on the Taliban. The one-eyed Mullah is a hard-liner unlike Baradar who is a moderate, or so goes the reasoning. This is a gamble with no near term view; it exhibits a pathetic failure to unravel the complexities of Taliban world and a willing readiness to go along with the puppet master hoping for a way out in the end.
The problem with the West, particularly the US, whose view of South Asia and Afghanistan is shaped by the dated colonial thinking of Great Britain, is that it thinks it can buy its way through with money and more money and weapons and more weapons. It fails to understand that in the Af-Pak region where the US is seen as enemy no 1, neither money nor weapons can get friends. That is why Washington is willing to go along with the Pakistani idea of talks with Taliban and is rewarding Islamabad with a $ 2 billion security aid as mouth freshener on the eve of a strategic dialogue once again
