Hyderabad: CIA’s henchman and slain Ahmad Shah Masood’s close aide Amrullah Saleh, who has declared himself the President of Afghanistan, is back in the news to challenge the Taliban might.
He was the one who challenged them when the Taliban-ruled Afghanistan after they killed commander Masood. The assailants came in the guise of journalists on the pretext of interviewing him and blew him up. Masood had close relations with the Pentagon officials and the CIA. After him, Saleh was aided, trained and provided with material support for intelligence gathering by the CIA. He had made his base in Tajikistan from where he would plan his operations against the Taliban till the US army landed in Afghanistan.
Masood was a Tajik — one of the ethnic groups prominent in Afghanistan — and had his strongest base in Panjshir, a valley in the north of Kabul. It was a district that later was declared, during Hamid Karzai rule, as one of the 34 provinces of Afghanistan. It used to be a hotbed for all anti-Taliban activists led by commander Masood and his followers.
Commander Masood’s son Ahmad Masood in his early thirties is up against the Taliban now to not only defy the Taliban control but to seek revenge for his father’s assassination. Junior Masood has announced his complete support to Saleh with all his armed men and the ammunition he had stored from what he says belonged to his father.
There is a lot of difference between what Masood’s Panjshir would look like and now under his son’s command. It was a valley free of the Taliban which now has some Taliban supporters. Among them are some Tajiks like commander Khurasani, who has challenged Saleh for Taliban from Panjshir itself.
Saleh was America’s blue-chip in the region and they had expected a lot from him. He had been their long-term investment as he understands the spy game very well. CIA has trained him in intelligence gathering skills. In fact, he was a major asset for the US in Afghanistan.
The US had expected a better defiance against the Taliban since they had prepared the ground for them in terms of arms and ammunition supplies which they had handed over to them through Saleh for fighting against the Taliban and also to have a better bargaining power during negotiations in the power-sharing. Though the United States of America knew that Afghanistan will fall to the Taliban but they wouldn't have even imagined that it would happen so fast without even a semblance of resistance. The US expected at least a lesser than half of the share in the government would go to Saleh-led northern alliance.
Read: Amrullah Saleh emerges to declare himself Afghan 'legitimate caretaker President'
Undoubtedly, the US anticipated the Taliban regaining power which is why they clearly mentioned in the agreement with Taliban in Doha in February 2020, that “the Taliban will not provide Visas, Passports, travel permits or other legal documents to those who pose threat to the security of the United States and its allies to enter Afghanistan.”
The way the US addressed the Taliban in the agreement makes it clear that they knew that the insurgents will hold the reins again. They also realised that they would be getting recognition as a state. In fact, the agreement notes that the US will facilitate in getting the Taliban-US agreement of Doha 'legitimized'.
The agreement in its third part mentions that the United States will request the United Nations Security Council to recognise and endorse the agreement signed by the US and the Taliban in Doha. The United States in the agreement also seeks economic cooperation for reconstruction with the new post-settlement Afghan Islamic government as determined by the intra-Afghan dialogue and negotiations, and pledges not intervene in the internal affairs of Taliban-led government.
It seems that the US was wary of a war against the Taliban in Afghanistan to avoid heavy casualties and draining of their economy. Hence, they wanted to just leave the country with only 'one' assurance from the Taliban that it would stop harming the US and its western allies. It repeatedly mentions in the agreement that Afghanistan shall not be a threat to the US and its allies. It is evident from the fact that whatever is happening in Afghanistan is scripted and goes as per the deal which both the US and the Taliban have agreed upon. The only thing that may be bothering the US is that their allies in the country showed no courage to fight back and gave up their arms in meek surrender. Significantly, US would not have desired the state-of-art and well-equipped Afghanistan Air Force falling into the hands of Taliban.
Retaining representation of the northern alliance in the upcoming Islamic government in Afghanistan, the US wanted to have Saleh with a mandate in the parliament led by the Taliban. Saleh, a staunch anti-Pakistan leader, would forestall projects of China which was planning big in Afghanistan to irk the US and couldn't foresee the Taliban forming the government with hardly any presence of people like Saleh. The resistance Saleh can put up against Taliban advance in Panjshir would define a lot in terms of the future the US would have envisaged while striking the deal with the Taliban.
