Author Topic: "CIA worked with Pakistan to create Taliban"  (Read 1209 times)

Hugo Chavez

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"CIA worked with Pakistan to create Taliban"
« on: December 27, 2007, 11:13:45 AM »
LONDON: The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) worked in tandem with Pakistan to create the "monster" that is today Afghanistan's ruling Taliban, a leading US expert on South Asia said here.

"I warned them that we were creating a monster," Selig Harrison from the Woodrow Wilson International Centre for Scholars said at the conference here last week on "Terrorism and Regional Security: Managing the Challenges in Asia."

Harrison said: "The CIA made a historic mistake in encouraging Islamic groups from all over the world to come to Afghanistan." The US provided $3 billion for building up these Islamic groups, and it accepted Pakistan's demand that they should decide how this money should be spent, Harrison said.

Harrison, who spoke before the Taliban assault on the Buddha statues was launched, told the gathering of security experts that he had meetings with CIA leaders at the time when Islamic forces were being strengthened in Afghanistan. "They told me these people were fanatical, and the more fierce they were the more fiercely they would fight the Soviets," he said. "I warned them that we were creating a monster."

Harrison, who has written five books on Asian affairs and US relations with Asia, has had extensive contact with the CIA and political leaders in South Asia. Harrison was a senior associate of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace between 1974 and 1996.

Harrison who is now senior fellow with The Century Foundation recalled a conversation he had with the late Gen Zia-ul Haq of Pakistan. "Gen Zia spoke to me about expanding Pakistan's sphere of influence to control Afghanistan, then Uzbekistan and Tajikstan and then Iran and Turkey," Harrison said. That design continues, he said. Gen.Mohammed Aziz who was involved in that Zia plan has been elevated now to a key position by Chief Executive, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, Harrison said.

The old associations between the intelligence agencies continue, Harrison said. "The CIA still has close links with the ISI (Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence)."

Today that money and those weapons have helped build up the Taliban, Harrison said. "The Taliban are not just recruits from 'madrassas' (Muslim theological schools) but are on the payroll of the ISI (Inter Services Intelligence, the intelligence wing of the Pakistani government)." The Taliban are now "making a living out of terrorism."

Harrison said the UN Security Council resolution number 1333 calls for an embargo on arms to the Taliban. "But it is a resolution without teeth because it does not provide sanctions for non-compliance," he said. "The US is not backing the Russians who want to give more teeth to the resolution."

Now it is Pakistan that "holds the key to the future of Afghanistan," Harrison said. The creation of the Taliban was central to Pakistan's "pan-Islamic vision," Harrison said.

It came after "the CIA made the historic mistake of encouraging Islamic groups from all over the world to come to Afghanistan," he said. The creation of the Taliban had been "actively encouraged by the ISI and the CIA," he said. "Pakistan has been building up Afghan collaborators who will sustain Pakistan," he said. (1)

[(C) 'Times of India', Reprinted for Fair Use Only

24KT

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Re: "CIA worked with Pakistan to create Taliban"
« Reply #1 on: December 27, 2007, 08:01:53 PM »
Most people are unaware that it is the CIA that controls ISI. Infact, the head of the ISI is chosen, not by Pakistan, but by the CIA. I've said it before, and I'll say it again... Blowback is a bitch!
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Dos Equis

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Re: "CIA worked with Pakistan to create Taliban"
« Reply #2 on: December 27, 2007, 09:38:29 PM »
The CIA is awfully busy.  Building up Islamic groups, controlling the media, suppressing reporting of the 911 conspiracy . . . .

But is the problem with the CIA having "close links with the ISI"?  Pakistan is a U.S. ally.   

24KT

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Re: "CIA worked with Pakistan to create Taliban"
« Reply #3 on: December 27, 2007, 09:45:04 PM »
The CIA is awfully busy.  Building up Islamic groups, controlling the media, suppressing reporting of the 911 conspiracy . . . .

But is the problem with the CIA having "close links with the ISI"?  Pakistan is a U.S. ally.   


Yep, they got their hands full all over the place. They've been juggling so many balls, many of them are dropping.

ps: I didn't say "close links". I said they control them. The ISI might as well be the Pakistan sub-office.
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Dos Equis

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Re: "CIA worked with Pakistan to create Taliban"
« Reply #4 on: December 27, 2007, 09:49:26 PM »

The old associations between the intelligence agencies continue, Harrison said. "The CIA still has close links with the ISI (Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence)."


Hugo Chavez

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Re: "CIA worked with Pakistan to create Taliban"
« Reply #5 on: December 27, 2007, 10:58:57 PM »
The CIA is awfully busy.  Building up Islamic groups, controlling the media, suppressing reporting of the 911 conspiracy . . . .

But is the problem with the CIA having "close links with the ISI"?  Pakistan is a U.S. ally.   

I wouldn't pick that out as the point of the post.

Dos Equis

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Re: "CIA worked with Pakistan to create Taliban"
« Reply #6 on: December 27, 2007, 11:07:34 PM »
I wouldn't pick that out as the point of the post.

Then why did you put that part in bold? 

Hugo Chavez

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Re: "CIA worked with Pakistan to create Taliban"
« Reply #7 on: December 27, 2007, 11:27:40 PM »
Then why did you put that part in bold? 
I also put this in bold: "The US provided $3 billion for building up these Islamic groups"  I put a few things in bold for those who don't want to read the whole thing.  Take the title and the two highlights and you have a theme.  But you picked out one bold line and said what's the big deal.  If that's all I had posted I sure would agree with you :)

Dos Equis

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Re: "CIA worked with Pakistan to create Taliban"
« Reply #8 on: December 27, 2007, 11:33:43 PM »
I also put this in bold: "The US provided $3 billion for building up these Islamic groups"  I put a few things in bold for those who don't want to read the whole thing.  Take the title and the two highlights and you have a theme.  But you picked out one bold line and said what's the big deal.  If that's all I had posted I sure would agree with you :)

Hey I read the whole thing mang.  Although I confess I am often what militarymuscle used to call a "skim reading fool."  :) 

Three billion is a lot of coin.  Seems awfully excessive.  But I was focused on why the CIA having a relationship with an ally is a problem. 

Hugo Chavez

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Re: "CIA worked with Pakistan to create Taliban"
« Reply #9 on: December 27, 2007, 11:52:56 PM »
Hey I read the whole thing mang.  Although I confess I am often what militarymuscle used to call a "skim reading fool."  :) 

Three billion is a lot of coin.  Seems awfully excessive.  But I was focused on why the CIA having a relationship with an ally is a problem. 
No I agree if that was the focus that wouldn't be a big deal. 3 billion isn't that excessive if you think about what's involved in doing something like this.  I mean if this shit was cheap, the CIA wouldn't need to sup their income with drug money :D

headhuntersix

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Re: "CIA worked with Pakistan to create Taliban"
« Reply #10 on: December 28, 2007, 04:40:01 PM »
The all powerful CIA couldn't stop 911...they can't find Bin laden...they had a hard time figuring out who the Soviets had spying for them..yet they control multiple foreign intelligence services...created the Taliban etc etc ect..have u idiots ever read a book about Afghanistan..written bya legitimate source..I have atleast ten on my book shelves..do u have any idea about that war..had u even heard of the Bamian Buddha's ..I've actually been there. try and find some real sources and stay away from the CT sites which cherry pick facts. Nothing this guy says is false..yet the article makes it seem like this guys sage advice was ignored. We had one purpose...stop the Sov's. the Taliban came to power while Clinton was in office. Bush has cleaned up that mess.
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