Comments on Ongoing Debate about ISI in the Afghan War

This refers to Dr Hamid Hussain's article on "ISI and Afghanistan" published in the Defence Journal , Karachi.

Dr Hamid's criticism of the ISI bosses and the Pakistani generals is generally valid although I must add that he has been too polite.

I published his article on Afghan War when I was at Journal of Afghanistan Studies in Kabul in 2004. The same was later reproduced in Defence Journal. The article made many in the Pakistani establishment and Afghan establishment very unhappy and angry as I was told so by Professor Rasul Amin the head of the Think Tank that publishes that journal.

It is good that Dr Hamid Hussain is in USA while he writes these articles.

General Akhtar Abdul Rahman's main coup in getting promotion from the usurper Zia was while he was General Officer Commanding the 12 Division is Murree in 1977.He regularly spied on Mr Z.A Bhutto then under arrest in Murree and played on Zia's fears.This good reporting paid Akhtar dividends when Zia promoted him to head the ISI.

One of the reasons why Zia removed him from ISI was the intermarriages between the generals sons and daughters of then Generals Zahid Ali Akbar and General Rahimuddin ( the one late Maj Gen Iftikhar wanted to court martial in 1971 for disaappearinf from his brigade in Chamb). Zia rightly calculated that Akhtar by intermarriages was getting too powerful. Old fox and seasoned player that Zia was.

In Afghanistan the ISI had little strategy as agreed by many ISI hands who worked with Akhtar. All that Akhtar was saying in the conferences was that Kabul must burn ! There was little work north of Hindu Kush and North of Hindu Kush the ISI was not effective as clearly proved by later events from 1989 till todate.

One had to be living in the Pakistan of 1979 to understand the true motivations of the then Pakistani tinpot military junta to launch the so called Afghan Jihad. Neither it was purely Afghan nor a Jihad since it was manipulated by non Afghans and the main motivation was not to support the Afghans but to ensure that a military dictator who had usurped power in Pakistan in July 1977 survived. Pakistan was isolated in 1977. Roads were such that one could not travel between two main towns like Lahore and Multan without breaking the cars shock absorbers.

The Afghan War started a grand party for Pakistan's ruling elite and even Pakistan. Afghan refugees were cleverly and criminally used to solicit US and Saudi aid. All glorified as Jihad. False are the claims of todays Pakistani Government that Pakistan gave refuge to Afghans for free. All was done for money and politics.The greatest vindication of this fact is the fact is that now that the US forces are in Afghanistan no Paskistani tinpot dictator talks about Jihad.If the USA came to aid the Afghans in 2001 so did the USSR do so in 1979 but today this is being distorted.

The indiscriminate bombing/rocketing of Kabul was the most cowardly act. Many including wives of senior ministers like Gulabozai died in these rockets. Residential areas were rocketed including the apartments of Makroyan Kunha and Shahr e Nau. This policy was sanctioned and approved at the highest level by Akhtar. No Afghan Government in exile was created in Peshawar as it would have checked Akhtar's hold on ISI funds.

The loss that the so called Mujahideen inflicted on the Red Army was peanuts , just 14,000 killed with so much of foreign aid and advanced munitions. Most of the Stingers were sold and resold and this was good business. Actually my ongoing research proves that the standard of living of the so called Mujahids and many Pakistani generals improved during and after the so called Jihad. Today the so called Mujahideen are sitting in ministries with USA and 26 countries occupying Afghanistan. At least the Soviets were not Christians ! Thank God ! Today there is no Jihad although a foreign power is occupying Afghanistan ! It was all about money and staying in power when the Soviets occupied Afghanistan and all about money and staying in power when the USA occupied Afghanistan in 2001. The faces have changed but the modus operandi is the same !

The so called Mujahid leaders that Akhtar backed were non entities and they were backed because they were good yes men. This is proved by the fact that they immediately forgot their old patrons when the USA occupied Afghanistan and changed loyalties.

The so called Afghan Jihad was a failure as Zia and Akhtar were US pawns.When they did not dance to the tune they were removed with immaculate perfection !

About General Baig however I would slightly differ with Dr Hamid ! Baig had a better intellect but when he became the army chief the environment geopolitically speaking had changed.

There is one last phenomenon which occurs recurrently.Once Pakistani generals are rejected by the Americans they do start criticising the Americans.

However it must be understood that the USA has a far more long term agenda in Afghanistan than USSR ! The USSR played a major role in freeing many Afro-Asian nations by militarily supporting guerrillas ! They helped the Arabs in fighting Israel and now that they are not there Muslims are being kicked everywhere in Iraq and even dear Afghanistan where Akhtar fought the so called bear.

One last thing which must be remembered that Jihad has a link with technology and Talibans are being mauled in Afghanistan because they have no SAM missiles.

The Afghan War was a failure not only for the Pakistanis but the Afghans also and the threat remains. If Afghanistan was fragmented as a state, many other states face the same fate in its neighbouring region. While the Vietnam Communist Jihad was a success the Afghan Jihad was an undoubted failure. The threat that Pakistan and even Afghanistan faces today are far more grave than in 1979 as time will prove.The US Presidential candidates are issuing far more deadly statements than Brezhnev or any Soviet leader. The USSR kept its cool during the Afghan War while today the US politicians are talking about attacking Mecca and Waziristan and the latter may actually happen.

It is worthwhile to compare the standard of living of the Afghans who were in key positions in 1979 and 1988 and those in Pakistan . This is my first hand observation in Kabul and confirmed by many of my friends who were in Al Zulfiqar and ANP in Kabul while struggling against the military usurper Zia.

Dr Najib who was President of Afghanistan from 1986 to 1992 lived in a common apartment in Makroyan.T ill his death he had no house.

Sayed Gulabozai the Interior Minister from 1978 till 1992 till to date does not have a car cor even a house in Kabul.He is so popular in Khost from where he hails that he got the highest number of votes from Khost in Afghan Parliamentary Elections of 2005. While General Akhtar hardly ever left his HQ in Islamabad to expose himself to fire , Gulabozai fought from the front and was a fearless military commander as minister of Interior leading the Sarandoy troops.

The indomitable Aslam Watanjar who planned and executed the Saur Revolution Coup of April 1978 and who I met in Russia in 1995 and 1996 and became a good friend was penniless and died in sad circumstances in 2000 and is buried in Oddessa.
Bariyali the close relative of President Karmal died penniless in Germany in early 2007 and money was collected by Afghan refugees to finance his body's transportation to Kabul.

No PDPA leader who served in the Afghan regime from 1978 to 1992 has a house in Wazir Akbar Khan , Kabul's most posh locality while most of the houses in that area are owned by former so called Mujahid commanders. General Ulumi who was PDPA Corps Commander in Kandahar in 1986-89 and fighting against the so called Mujahids is still so popular that he got the second highest number of votes from Kandahar in 2005 Elections.

Now compare the above with life style of General Zia's son . Zia was from humble background.So was the case of General Akhtar who led the so called Afghan Jihad and now his sons are multi millionaires and sitting ministers in the present Pakistani Government.

The so called Afghan Jihad was a success for many Pakistani and Afghans in personal terms.But these were a small minority.For the vast majority of Afghans it was a failure.Afghanistan lost the flower of its leadership,intellectuals and infrastructure !


kind regards

Agha