US-India Civil Nuclear Agreement: Haqqani Network

In 2001, President Pervez Musharraf told President Bush that Pakistan stood with the US. But it didn’t take him long to understand that the US was not on Pakistan’s side. After scaring Pakistan into submission, the US was going all out for India.

In 2008 ,Financial Action Task Force was sent to Pakistan. Just pakistan look bad. In this situation, the US said that Pakistan was working with the Haqqani Network, which Pakistan rejected.

Jalaluddin Haqqani–Haqqani Network :

Jalaluddin Haqqani, a Zadran Pashtun from Paktia who lived from 1939 to 2018, started the Haqqani Network in 1970. Up until 1992, he was in charge of the Network.

During the 1980s, people in the US called him “goodness itself.

“Reagan said he was a “freedom fighter.”

The Network was one of the most CIA-funded groups that worked against the Soviet Union. Haqqani joined the Taliban in 1995 because Osama bin Laden inspired them to do so. The Network kept strong links with Al-Qaeda, the anti-India group Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), and the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) group. Estimates of how many it is vary. A 2009 New York Times article said that there were “about 4,000 to 12,000” of them. Two years later, the Combating Terrorism Centre (CTC) said that it had “roughly 10,000-15,000” people working for it. Later that same year, Sirajuddin said that 10,000 soldiers mentioned in some news stories. Actual was “less than the real number.”

Most likely, the CTC’s numbers are accurate.

The Haqqani network was the first group in Afghanistan to use suicide strikes. It is thought to be behind about 10% of the attacks . On the Coalition troops. About 15% of the deaths. It was feared because, according to the Wall Street Journal.

it was the Taliban’s “most radical and violent branch.

” The US military leaders saw it as “the most resilient enemy, the most lethal network” . “one of the biggest threats to the U.S.-led NATO forces and the Afghan government.

” A US Ambassador said it was “the worst of the worst, a pure and simple group of killers.”

In 2010, the US offered $5 million in cash for information that led to the capture of the group’s boss, Sirajuddin Haqqani. The amount of money on his head was later set at $10 million.

The ANA was trained and armed to the teeth by some of the world’s best armies, but they were driven out by just 75,000 random soldiers

Sep 2011: Obama Administration forces Pak to do more

Most people thought that the Haqqanis were “semi-autonomous” Taliban offshoots. Their “operations were run by small, semi-autonomous units based on tribal and sub-tribal ties, often under the direction of Haqqani commanders and with their logistical support.” But both the Taliban and the Haqqanis said that the Haqqanis were a part of the Taliban and not a different “network” that was independent or only partly independent from the Taliban.

The US said that “the network had ties to the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), and Pakistan’s army had been reluctant to move against them.” The New York Times said that Pakistan saw the Network as an important way to protect its interests in Afghanistan if the U.S. left that country, so it didn’t want to do anything against it.

Pakistan disputed these claims, but the US did not believe them, and the Network’s ties to Pakistan “remained a sore spot in relations between Pakistan and the US.”

In September 2011, the Obama administration told Pakistan it needed to do more “to cut ties with the Haqqani network and help get rid of its leaders.” If Pakistan didn’t do what it was asked to do, the US would “act unilaterally.” Pakistan called the accusations “pressure tactics… to move the war theatre” and told the US that it couldn’t do anything more than what it had already done.

The US changed its mind and, within a month, asked Pakistan to help it start talks with the Taliban. Those talks took place in the UAE, but they didn’t go anywhere. The Haqqani Network was named a Foreign Terrorist Organisation (FTO) by the US in 2012. Operation Zarb-e-Azb, a big operation that started in June 2014 in North Waziristan, got rid of all foreign and local militants, including the Haqqani Network. Lt. Gen. Joseph Anderson, a top leader of the US and NATO troops in Afghanistan, liked what Pakistan did on November 5, 2014.

He said that the Haqqani Network had become “fractured” and useless. As part of its National Action Plan, Pakistan banned the Network in 2015.

The US Senate Foreign Relations Committee said that the Trump administration “recognised that there was no military solution to the conflict in Afghanistan and that a political solution was needed.” It wanted to leave Afghanistan in a good way and needed Pakistan to save its face by bringing the Taliban to the Doha Peace talks. But, as usual, it kept threatening Pakistan by blowing hot and cold.

On August 21, 2017, President Trump said that Pakistan gave attackers safe places to hide. He said that “Pakistan had given refuge to the same groups that try to kill our people every single day.” He said things that hurt Pakistan and asked India to do its part in the war. Again, on January 1, 2018, Trump was critical of Pakistan, saying, “They’ve only given us lies and deceit.

” He said, “I’m cancelling a $300 million payment to Pakistan from the Coalition Support Fund (CSF) because the country hasn’t done enough to go after Afghan Taliban militants and their safe havens in Pakistan.”

But in October 2021, the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee proved that Pakistan did not “suppose (covert) support for the Taliban during the war.” The Secretary of State admitted that “most of the pro-Taliban decisions Pakistan made were made because of American pressure.

” He also said that the “Trump administration asked the Pakistani government to release three top Taliban commanders, including Mulla Baradar, as part of (the Doha Peace) process,” which was “centred on the US withdrawal from Afghanistan.” The Secretary vouched for “Islamabad’s good work at the request of the US.

” Earlier, on September 14, 2020, the US Special Representative for Afghanistan Reconciliation, Zalmay Khalilzad, said that “the success of the Afghan peace process would not have been possible without Islamabad’s sincere and unwavering support.

” People were happy to hear that “the imminent peace deal was the result of 14 months of painstaking negotiations between the US and the Taliban, which were brokered and helped along by Pakistan.”

The US’s claims and Pakistan’s doubts that the Haqqani Network had safe places to stay were very interesting. The US told Pakistan it had to cut links with the Haqqani network and help get rid of its leaders. At the same time, it pushed Pakistan to bring the Taliban to the table for talks.

Pakistan said it had nothing to do with the Haqqanis/Taliban but was still able to get them to talk to the US and try to change their minds. And, as we’ve seen, the US both criticised and praised Pakistan at the same time. In the same way, the CIA was able to find Osama Bin Laden and kill him in one of the best places he could hide.

It could also kill “hundreds of high-level leaders of the Afghan Taliban, the Pakistani Taliban, the Islamic State, Al-Qaeda, the Haqqani Network, and other organisations.” For example, 70 Taliban leaders were killed in just ten days in May 2017.

Baitullah Mehsud, who started the TTP, Hakimullah Mehsud, who took over after him, Fazlullah, who was in charge of the TTP, Hafiz Saeed Khan, who was the leader of ISIS-K and Akhtar Mansour, who was in charge of the Afghan Taliban, were all among them.

Five Eyes, Mossad, RAW and NDS, ISAF troops were unable to reach Jalaluddin Haqqani, who died of natural causes in 2018.

Sirajuddin Haqqani, his son and heir, is still carrying a $10 million head on his shoulders. And the US keeps putting the blame on Pakistan.

Even with the help of 300,000 Afghan National Army (ANA) soldiers stationed in another 300 camps all over the country. Ashraf Ghani’s government was unable to control areas outside of Kabul where ISAF troops were based.

It is said that even some NATO/ISAF members had to pay bandits in their own areas for protection. Even though the Super Power gave air support. It was only 75,000 random fighters who were able to get rid of the ANA.

This was despite the fact that the ANA had been trained .They supplied by the most powerful military in the world. In an ironic twist, all of the blame for this shame was put on Pakistan. This sets up the relationship between Pakistan and the US and gets us back to where we started. The US has always bullied Pakistan and played “The Wolf and the Lamb” with it. Pakistan has always given in. Why? That’s the question.