Mullah Omar asked Musharraf to bomb Kandahar: US cable

[Devil Soul]

Mullah Omar asked Musharraf to bomb Kandahar: US cable
THE NEWSPAPER'S CORRESPONDENT— PUBLISHED ABOUT 6 HOURS AGO



WASHINGTON: The late Taliban leader Mullah Omar asked the Musharraf government to bring in weapons and bomb Kandahar if it did not like Taliban policies, reveals a secret US cable released by the State Department.

Pervez Musharraf, who was then the country’s chief executive, conveyed this message to then US Under Secretary of State Thomas Pickering at a meeting in Islamabad on March 26, 2000.

In the meeting, “the chief executive referred to the recent visit of DG ISI Gen Mahmud to Kandahar as evidence of what it was like to deal with the Taliban”.

“Mullah Omar told Mahmud he was sorry that Taliban policies were causing Pakistan problems and suggested that if (Islamabad) did not like (those policies), it might want to bring in its weapons and begin shelling Kandahar,” Gen Musharraf told Mr Pickering.

Know more: After Mullah Omar: ‘This is not the end of war’

When Mr Musharraf urged the US to engage with the Taliban directly, Mr Pickering said the US had been engaging with the Taliban “at multiple venues on repeated occasions, in Washington, New York and Islamabad”.

Mr Pickering said “the fact that Pakistan was the strongest supporter of the Taliban, was of particular concern” to the US.

“This presented us with the anomaly of a good friend being the best friend of our worst enemy. This was an abscess on our relationship that would only get worse and worse.”

Mr Pickering said the US understood why Gen Musharraf did not want to go to Kandahar without being able to bring back concrete results. “But it was important that he recognise that the Bin Laden issue was eating away at our relationship.”

Mr Musharraf replied that he was well aware of US concerns and was personally engaged in dealing with the Taliban on three major issues. The first was terrorist training camps and the sanctuary being given by the Taliban to Pakistani terrorists and criminals. The second was the peace issue. And the third was Osama Bin Laden.

The former chief executive said that Osama Bin Laden was the one area where progress was not being made. He noted he had recently met the visiting Taliban interior minister, who had exhibited a “little bit” of flexibility on the issue. The minister had indicated the possibility of constituting an Ulema council, bringing together religious scholars from Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and perhaps the OIC, to consider the evidence against Bin Laden.

Mr Musharraf said that the Taliban continued to want to see proof of Bin Laden’s guilt. Mr Pickering pointed out that the US had recently given Pakistan a full presentation of the evidence against Bin Laden.

Mr Pickering reiterated that the US did not believe it could solve the Bin Laden issue without help from Pakistan. If the Taliban did not believe that Pakistan took the matter seriously, they would be reluctant to take anything we said seriously.

A separate, secret message that the US Embassy sent to Washington before a meeting between Gen Mahmud and US security officials includes a brief assessment of Pakistan’s Afghan policy.

“Pakistan’s rationale for supporting the Taliban is also unchanged: It is committed to establishing a friendly regime in Afghanistan beholden to Islamabad, hostile to Iran and India, dominated by Pashtuns, and uninterested in pursuing territorial claims against Pakistan,” says the message.

The message also shows that there has been little change in US response to Pakistan’s Afghan policy.

The cable urges US officials to ask Gen Mahmud “whether Pakistan can conceive of an alternative to the Taliban that meets both Washington’s and Islamabad’s interests”.

It also asks them to let Mr Mahmud know that “perhaps a change of leadership within the Taliban would be sufficient” to satisfy the US. “Second, we should hint that if Pakistan cannot help us - as they steadfastly maintain — we will look elsewhere for assistance. No need to mention the obvious candidates: India, Russia, and Uzbekistan,” says the secret message.

Published in Dawn, September 5th, 2015

 

[Hussain Farooqui]

Unrealistic mindset of Mullah Umer caused the downfall of Talibans in Afghanistan. As a result of his illogical decisions, his country fell into the hands of Americans. Afghans have been under direct slavery of Americans since 2001.

 

[Metanoia]

Poor, pathetic and utterly unrealistic foreign (and domestic) policy of Taliban brought in misery to Afghanistan.

All the rejects and scums of the Arab world were given godhood by the Taliban at the cost of their own people.

 

[Oldman1]

Death of Bin Laden and Mullah Omar has pretty much change all that.

 

[SQ8]

Death of Bin Laden and Mullah Omar has pretty much change all that.

That it did, but it is also an example of the total rednecks one had to deal with when it came to these Taliban. They were arrogant in their ideals and so were many of their supporters within the Pakistani military system(until they were slowly rooted out.. unfortunately, only retired in the employment sense and not in the "late" sense). They were so convinced that their position in the inaccessible lands of Afghanistan gave them utter impunity to do whatever they wanted.

A little known fact is that the Taliban in cohorts with some of their supporters hijacked a bus in Pakistan and demanded that some assets of the Pakistan air force be transferred to the Taliban(who were then fighting against the Northern alliance and had lost a majority of their airforce to recently transferred Sam systems from India)

 

[Oracle]

Says the Govt (US) who didnt know Mullah Umar died 2 years ago ?

 

[Donatello]

That it did, but it is also an example of the total rednecks one had to deal with when it came to these Taliban. They were arrogant in their ideals and so were many of their supporters within the Pakistani military system(until they were slowly rooted out.. unfortunately, only retired in the employment sense and not in the "late" sense). They were so convinced that their position in the inaccessible lands of Afghanistan gave them utter impunity to do whatever they wanted.

A little known fact is that the Taliban in cohorts with some of their supporters hijacked a bus in Pakistan and demanded that some assets of the Pakistan air force be transferred to the Taliban(who were then fighting against the Northern alliance and had lost a majority of their airforce to recently transferred Sam systems from India)

Is this the Islamabad School bus crisis many years ago?

 

[SQ8]

Is this the Islamabad School bus crisis many years ago?

The one in which they demanded that F-7 fighters be transferred to Kandahar. Since their Mig-21s had taken losses and this was the closest to replace them. It is likely that it was a ploy by our intel guys to get their operation with the Taliban going but the PAF refused to budge.

 

[Tipu7]

The one in which they demanded that F-7 fighters be transferred to Kandahar. Since their Mig-21s had taken losses and this was the closest to replace them. It is likely that it was a ploy by our intel guys to get their operation with the Taliban going but the PAF refused to budge.

How the crisis ended then.....?

 

[gangsta_rap]

It is likely that it was a ploy by our intel guys to get their operation with the Taliban going but the PAF refused to budge.

NO

 

[SQ8]

NO

Could be a YES. After all, they helped plan Taliban operations against the Indian supported Northern Alliance before 2001.

How the crisis ended then.....?

SSG stormed the bus and killed them. What is important to know is that the way intel agencies operate is that not everyone is supporting the same thing. There are divisions that run their own operations at times which gets other people into trouble. To get an understanding of this, the hollywood flick "The Spy Game" may not be a bad watch even if it is a little carried away.

So back then, the ISI may be looking to replace air assets for their Taliban help and would try to get them but the PAF refused to do so or the major PA brass would refuse. That does not mean that the non-officer and non-payroll asset of the ISI who may be retired and semi-Taliban himself may not think of having Taliban Hijack a bus to try and force this to happen. That is because his goal is to get the Taliban air power against Northern Alliance which he believes is his current war; and feels that the needs of the PAF are less than his.

 

[saurav]

When a person with no rational worldview becomes ruler, such idiocy is bound to happen. A mullah from A maddarsah became ruler of a country and Pakistan for one reason or another became his biggest supporter. A stupid friend is always dangerous.

 

[war&peace]

That it did, but it is also an example of the total rednecks one had to deal with when it came to these Taliban. They were arrogant in their ideals and so were many of their supporters within the Pakistani military system(until they were slowly rooted out.. unfortunately, only retired in the employment sense and not in the "late" sense). They were so convinced that their position in the inaccessible lands of Afghanistan gave them utter impunity to do whatever they wanted.

A little known fact is that the Taliban in cohorts with some of their supporters hijacked a bus in Pakistan and demanded that some assets of the Pakistan air force be transferred to the Taliban(who were then fighting against the Northern alliance and had lost a majority of their airforce to recently transferred Sam systems from India)

This is another example of falsification. No reference, no links just a made up story, of which nobody has any knowledge. It is just you who remembers the incident..how come?

 

[SQ8]

This is another example of falsification. No reference, no links just a made up story, of which nobody has any knowledge. It is just you who remembers the incident..how come?

Actually, others do too. You just are simply too young or too ignorant to remember anything.

 

[war&peace]

Actually, others do too. You just are simply too young or too ignorant to remember anything.

I am 22 yrs old and I have a Masters. Reference please. I mean whether I was a toddler but what about you and newspapers, TV, News websites and forums and this very PDF were all there. There should have been some discussion about that incident, there would be some threads. But the evidence/reference for your fairytale is zilch bro. If you just focus on finding some links instead of going after me for demanding a reference would end this bickering.