The declassified US documents have thrown some more light on Pakistani link to Haqqani attacks in Afghanistan. On the one hand these disclosures nail the Pakistani lie and expose its continued perfidy. And on the other hand, the US stands exposed for not acting against Pakistan even after repeatedly reading the writing on the wall. This saga raises the question: Will the US ever learn from the past and give up short-term pursuits in Af-Pak region?
Reuters news agency, The News International (of Pakistan) and the Times of India (TOI) have given in their dispatches a graphic account of the new declassified document that acts as a mirror on Pakistan.
The ‘story’ in a nutshell
Pakistan’s spy agency, the Inter-Services Intelligence directorate, and the Haqqani network were involved in facilitating the December 30, 2009 attack on Forward Operating Base Chapman in Khost in eastern Afghanistan. It was one of the most devastating in the history of the Central Intelligence Agency, killing seven and wounding six, according to a declassified US government document obtained by the National Security Archive, a non-governmental research institute at George Washington University.
The document, dated February 2010, said an unidentified Pakistani ISI officer provided $200,000 to Haqqani and another man “to enable the attack on Chapman.”
An Afghan border commander in Khost was promised $100,000 of the money to facilitate the attack but died in the bombing, it said.
“During discussion at an unknown date between Haqqani, Salar, and an unidentified facilitator or facilitators, Haqqani and Salar were provided $200,000.00 to enable the attack on Chapman,” a cable cited in the documents reads.
No less revealing is a September 29, 2009 cable. “As of late September 2009, Spera District Haqqani Network commander Hamid (Rahman) had strained relations with the HQN leadership, including senior commander Siraj (Haqqani), over ransom money embezzled by Rahman. Rahman and an unidentified Iraqi al Qaeda associate had kidnapped a road construction worker in Spera District for ransom and neglected to send the ransom money obtained to HQN leadership in Pakistan. As a result, Siraj Haqqani ordered Rahman to return to Miramshah, North Waziristan, PK, in order to account for the money.”
Donations and fundraising continue to be important for HQN. A secret March 22, 2009, cable notes, “as of mid-February 2009, the Hadika ta Uloom Madrissa in Dera Ismail Khan, PK was facilitating financial support for the Haqqani Network (HQN).
The infamous Quetta Shura remained a source of Haqqani Network, the document confirms. “Most of the Haqqani Network funding comes from Quetta Shura, Pakistan-based Taliban leadership,” a September 24, 2009 cable says. It further adds that the network paid fighters who conducted attacks against coalition forces in Afghanistan.
The United States in 2012 designated the Haqqani network as a terrorist organisation. The year before, US Navy Admiral Mike Mullen, then the top US military officer, told Congress that the Haqqani network was a “veritable arm” of the ISI. So much so the unanswered question is: When will the policy makers in Washington care to see, and the writing on the wall.
– Malladi