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US expresses concern over ‘track record’ of Taliban caretaker team
The US has questioned over the lack of diversity in the composition of the caretaker government in Afghanistan announced by the Taliban and their “affiliations and track record”. The US has said it will judge the Taliban by its “actions, not words”.
The United States has expressed concern over the lack of diversity in the composition of the caretaker government announced by the Taliban and their “affiliations and track record” and questions are being raised about Pakistan’s increasing role in support of the new dispensation in Kabul.
“We note the announced list of names consists exclusively of individuals who are members of the Taliban or their close associates and no women. We also are concerned by the affiliations and track records of some of the individuals,” a state department spokesperson said on Tuesday.
The spokesperson added, “We understand that the Taliban has presented this as a caretaker cabinet. However, we will judge the Taliban by its actions, not words.”
Sirajuddin Haqqani, the interior minister in the caretaker government, is a wanted man in the United States, with a reward of $10 million for information leading to his arrest. The FBI describes him as “a senior leader of the Haqqani network, and maintains close ties to the Taliban and Al-Qaeda. Haqqani is a specially designated global terrorist”.
The Haqqani network is a part of the Taliban, as is clear now, and was once described by a top US general as a “veritable arm” of the Pakistani intelligence service, the ISI.
More specifically, the FBI is seeking Haqqani for questioning in connection with the January 2008 attack on a hotel in Kabul, Afghanistan, that killed six people, including an American.
The FBI says Haqqani is believed to have coordinated and participated in cross-border attacks against the United States and coalition forces in Afghanistan. He also was involved allegedly in the in the planning of the assassination attempt on then Afghan president Hamid Karzai in 2008.
Haqqani’s uncle Khalil al-Rahman Haqqani is the acting minister for refugees and was named a specially designated global terrorist by the United States in 2011.
Mullah Abdul Haq Waseeq, the acting intelligence chief, was once an inmate of the prison facility run by the US in Guantanamo Bay. He was freed in exchange for Bowe Bergdahl, the US Army soldier captured by the Taliban.
Noorullah Noori, minister of border and tribal affairs, was also at Guantanamo Bay; and was released in the same exchange for Bergdahl.
And Mullah Mohammad Yaqoob, the defence minister, is the son of Mullah Omar, a Taliban co-founder and leader who was on the UN’s Sanctions List.
These are the men the Biden administration is “counting on to allow the departure of the Americans and Afghan allies who are still trapped in Afghanistan. They are also supposed to prevent jihadists from again using the country as a sanctuary”, The Wall Street Journal commented in an editorial caustically headlined, “Our Friends the Haqqanis”.
Pakistan’s role in support of the Taliban has been chronicled widely in social media posts emanating from Afghanistan, specially about the fighting for the control of the Panjshir Valley, home to the Northern Resistance Front led by Ahmad Massoud, son of the legendary leader Ahmad Shah Massoud, who was assassinated by Al-Qaeda two days before the 9/11 attacks.
“If confirmed, not only must we cut off all aid, we must enact sanctions. Pakistan is now showing what they lied about for years, they created and protected the Taliban,” Adam Kinzinger, a Republican member of the House of Representatives wrote in a tweet, pointing to a post by a Fox News reporter.
ISI chief Lt General Faiz Hameed’s visit to Kabul to meet Taliban leaders last Saturday was widely noted and commented upon in media and social media and there have been allegations that Pakistani special forces are fighting alongside the Taliban in the Panjshir conflict.
Benjamin Hall, a Fox News reporter, had tweeted, citing a Centcom source, “The #Pakistani military are assisting the #Taliban offensive in #Panjshir - Including 27 helicopters full of Pakistani Special Forces, backed up by Pakistani #Drone strikes.”
