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The Hill
2 days ago
- Politics
- The Hill
A lesson on nuclear weapons for Iran, from its neighbor, Pakistan
The U.S. and Israel attacked Iran to destroy the country's nuclear program and perhaps force regime change. Yet just next door to Iran sits Pakistan, a nuclear weapons state, an opponent of Israel and a frenemy of the U.S. How did Pakistan succeed in getting the bomb, whereas Iran's regime is now in a fight for its life? First, the Americans want revenge for the humiliation of 1979, when 52 Americans were held for 444 days by the revolutionary government. Iran may have decided the 1980 election, handing the White House to Ronald Reagan — ensuring future presidents would do anything to avoid Jimmy Carter's fate. America's internal propagandizing has ensured that few citizens know the cause of Iran's enmity is the 1953 coup, sponsored by Washington and London, against the freely elected government in Tehran after Iran's parliament voted to nationalize the British-controlled Anglo-Iranian Oil Company. Second, Pakistan made itself useful to the U.S. in the insurgency against the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979, and the U.S. punitive expedition in Afghanistan from 2001 to 2021. In the 1980s, Pakistan distributed U.S. weapons and money to the anti-Soviet mujahideen; America obliged by overlooking Pakistan's development of nuclear weapons, though the U.S. stopped its 'willful gullibility' in 1990 when President George H.W. Bush was no longer able to certify that Pakistan no longer possessed a nuclear weapon. Many in Pakistan believe America no longer needed them in Afghanistan and so betrayed its long-standing ally, but the real reason may have been the Kashmir crisis that caused Pakistan to raise the enrichment of its uranium to weapons grade, which 'removed the last fig leaf.' After 9/11, Pakistan's leader, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, provided the U.S. with logistical support, intelligence cooperation and access to military bases. In return, Pakistan received billions in military and economic aid — but never severed its ties with the Taliban or the Haqqani Network. Pakistan hosted ground lines of communication for resupply of U.S. forces in Afghanistan, and made Karachi's Port Qasim available for military cargo. U.S. reliance on Pakistan for overland logistics was near-complete; Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the U,S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, finally admitted, 'The Haqqani network … acts as a veritable arm of Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence Agency.' The U.S. military was prepared to overlook troop deaths in Afghanistan due to Pakistan, but it always highlighted the claim that over 600 American troops in Iraq were killed due to Iran's actions. Mullen's complaint tipped Pakistan's brass that if you kill Americans, the Pentagon will let it slide if you have something it desperately needs, like access to a battlefield. But perhaps Pakistan has sensed a weakening of American ardor, as its defense minister, Khawaja Muhammad Asif, recently reminded Washington and London when he declared, 'Well, we have been doing this dirty work for United States for about three decades, you know, and West, including Britain.' Pakistan's 'dirty work' didn't get in the way of its confirmation by Washington as a 'Major Non-NATO Ally,' a status it shares with Taiwan and Japan, among others. Pakistan has many deficits in its system of governance, but lack of understanding of the Americans isn't one of them. In December 2024, Washington sanctioned four Pakistan entities for 'contributing to Pakistan's ballistic missile program.' But Pakistan's chief of Army staff, Field Marshal Syed Asim Munir, still visited Washington, D.C., in June 2025 where he attended the parade for the U.S. Army's 250th birthday, and met President Trump in the Oval Office. (Munir is formerly director general of Pakistan's Military Intelligence, and then Inter-Services Intelligence, and was likely aware of Osama bin Laden's accommodation in Abbottabad.) To smooth his way to Washington, Munir met a delegation from World Liberty Financial, a cryptocurrency firm majority-owned by the Trump family. The delegation included Zachary Witkoff, son of Trump's negotiator with Iran, Steve Witkoff. Even an experienced operator like Munir must have been walked away from the meeting dazed, thinking, 'They're just like well-connected Pakistani businessmen!' Iran was hobbled by the (unpublished) fatwa, or religious decree, from Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei that weapons of mass destruction — particularly nuclear weapons — were forbidden under Islamic law. (Khamenei's repudiation of WMD may be because of Iraq's use of chemical weapons in the Iran–Iraq war from 1980 to 1988.) Pakistan, led by a cohesive military officer class that single-mindedly seeks deterrence against India, is under no such religious restriction because its military isn't answerable to clerics. Iran is also limited by the legacy of the Shah's White Revolution, affecting schools, hospitals and public health, irrigation, urbanization and transport. In Iran, the leaders, no matter how focused on financially supporting their allies in Syria, Palestine and Lebanon, and on the country's nuclear program, still had to meet public demands for services. Pakistan, on the other hand, has always suffered from sub-par infrastructure and public services and only invests about 1 percent of GDP in public infrastructure, so the country's leaders benefit from a population that doesn't know a better situation. Pakistan's former prime minister, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, declared, 'we will eat leaves and grass, even go hungry' to get a nuclear bomb — and they did. Pakistan supported Iran in its war with Israel and may have transferred missiles to the Islamic Republic. The war may push Iran and Pakistan closer together, and they can influence significant real estate: the east shoreline of the Persian Gulf, the Strait of Hormuz and the Gulf of Oman. Then there's the Trans-Afghan Corridor from Central Asia to Pakistan, the International North–South Transport Corridor from India to Europe, and the China–Iran railroad that crosses four Central Asia republics. Former U.S. national security adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski warned of a coalition between Russia, China and Iran as a geostrategic nightmare for the U.S. He described this as a potential 'antihegemonic' alliance, but he thought such a coalition was unlikely — unless the U.S. antagonized all three simultaneously, which America has done, with Pakistan as a potential bonus member. James Durso, a regular commentator on foreign policy and national security matters, served in the U.S. Navy for 20 years and has worked in Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and Iraq.
Malay Mail
11-06-2025
- Politics
- Malay Mail
Taliban hang up Kalashnikovs to pen memoirs of Afghan war
KABUL, June 11 — Since trading the battlefield for Afghanistan's halls of power, some Taliban members have also swapped their weapons for pens to tell their version of the 20-year conflict with Western forces, who they accuse of distorting 'reality'. A flood of books has been written, mostly from a Western perspective, about the war between the US-led forces that invaded Afghanistan in the wake of the September 11 attacks until the Taliban's return to power in 2021. But in the years since, a proliferation of writings by Taliban figures — praising their exploits and the achievements of the 'Islamic Emirate' — is now the reigning narrative in Afghanistan. 'No matter what foreigners have written... they have largely ignored the reality of what happened to us and why we were forced to fight,' author Khalid Zadran told AFP. A member of the Haqqani network — long viewed as one of the most dangerous militant factions in Afghanistan — he now serves as the spokesman for the capital's police force. In his 600-page tome in Pashto published in April, he recounts US incursions in his home province of Khost, his childhood steeped in stories of soldiers' 'atrocities', and his desire to join the Taliban in the name of his country's 'freedom'. 'I witnessed horrific stories every day — mangled bodies on the roadside,' he writes in '15 Minutes', a title inspired by a US drone strike he narrowly escaped. Muhajer Farahi, now a deputy information and culture minister, penned his 'Memories of Jihad: 20 Years in Occupation' to 'state the facts', he said. 'America, contrary to its claims, has committed cruel and barbaric acts, destroyed our country with bombs, destroyed infrastructure, and has sown discord and cynicism between nations and tribes,' he told AFP from his office in central Kabul. Little attention is paid in either book to the thousands of civilians killed in Taliban attacks — many of them suicide bombings that entrenched fear across the country for nearly two decades. Farahi insists the Taliban 'were cautious in saving civilians and innocent' lives, while criticising fellow Afghans who collaborated with the pro-Western police as a 'stain' on the country. Rights groups accuse the current Taliban authorities of widespread abuses — particularly against women and girls, who the United Nations say are victims of what amounts to 'gender apartheid'. In his book published in 2023, Farahi claims the Taliban attempted to negotiate — in vain, he insists — with the United States over the fate of Osama bin Laden, whose capture or death Washington demanded after his plane hijackers killed around 3,000 people in the September 11, 2001 attacks. Bin Laden, the leader of Al-Qaeda, who had been based in Afghanistan, was killed by US forces in Pakistan in 2011. Khalid Zadran, spokesperson of Kabul police and author of the book '15 Minutes'. — AFP pic American 'bloodthirsty dragon' 'It was clear... that the Americans had already planned the occupation of Afghanistan,' writes Farahi in the English version of his book, which has been translated into five languages. In the wake of the September 11 attacks, Afghans thought it would 'have nothing to do with our country', he continues, but soon realised that Afghanistan would face 'punishment'. For 20 years, the war pitted Taliban militants against a US-led coalition of 38 countries supporting the Afghan Republic and its forces. Tens of thousands of Afghans died in the fighting and in Taliban attacks, as did nearly 6,000 foreign soldiers, including 2,400 Americans. For Farahi, the war reflects the West's desire to 'impose its culture and ideology on other nations'. His disjointed journal mixes battlefield memories with polemical chapters railing against the American 'bloodthirsty dragon'. The book 'reveals the truths that were not told before because the media, especially the Western media, presented a different picture of the war,' he said. According to him, the mujahideen, or holy warriors, despite being far less equipped, were able to rely on their unity and God's aid to achieve victory. An Afghan man holding a book, 'Memories of Jihad: 20 Years in Occupation', authored by Muhajer Farahi, Deputy Minister of Information and Culture for Publication Affairs in Kabul. — AFP pic New front Only a few of the new wave of Taliban books have been autobiographies, which appeal to an audience seeking to understand the war 'from the inside', according to Zadran. His book, initially 2,000 copies in Pashto, sold out quickly and another 1,000 are in the works — along with a Dari-language version, he said. Many chapters mention Bowe Bergdahl, the US soldier held hostage for five years by the Haqqani network. He recounts treks through the mountains along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border to move him between hideouts, efforts to convert him to Islam and conversations about his girlfriend back in the US. Both accounts end in 2021, before the transformation of the fighters who moved from remote mountain hideouts to the carpeted offices of the capital. There, their battle has turned diplomatic: the Taliban are now fighting for international recognition of their government. 'The war is over now,' Farahi said, 'and we want good relations with everyone' — even with the 'bloodthirsty dragon'. — AFP
Arab News
11-06-2025
- Politics
- Arab News
Taliban hang up Kalashnikovs to pen memoirs of Afghan war
KABUL: Since trading the battlefield for Afghanistan's halls of power, some Taliban members have also swapped their weapons for pens to tell their version of the 20-year conflict with Western forces, who they accuse of distorting 'reality.' A flood of books has been written, mostly from a Western perspective, about the war between the US-led forces that invaded Afghanistan in the wake of the September 11 attacks until the Taliban's return to power in 2021. But in the years since, a proliferation of writings by Taliban figures — praising their exploits and the achievements of the 'Islamic Emirate' — is now the reigning narrative in Afghanistan. 'No matter what foreigners have written... they have largely ignored the reality of what happened to us and why we were forced to fight,' author Khalid Zadran told AFP. A member of the Haqqani network — long viewed as one of the most dangerous militant factions in Afghanistan — he now serves as the spokesman for the capital's police force. In his 600-page tome in Pashto published in April, he recounts US incursions in his home province of Khost, his childhood steeped in stories of soldiers' 'atrocities,' and his desire to join the Taliban in the name of his country's 'freedom.' 'I witnessed horrific stories every day — mangled bodies on the roadside,' he writes in '15 Minutes,' a title inspired by a US drone strike he narrowly escaped. Muhajer Farahi, now a deputy information and culture minister, penned his 'Memories of Jihad: 20 Years in Occupation' to 'state the facts,' he said. 'America, contrary to its claims, has committed cruel and barbaric acts, destroyed our country with bombs, destroyed infrastructure and has sown discord and cynicism between nations and tribes,' he told AFP from his office in central Kabul. Little attention is paid in either book to the thousands of civilians killed in Taliban attacks — many of them suicide bombings that entrenched fear across the country for nearly two decades. Farahi insists the Taliban 'were cautious in saving civilians and innocent' lives, while criticising fellow Afghans who collaborated with the pro-Western police as a 'stain' on the country. Rights groups accuse the current Taliban authorities of widespread abuses — particularly against women and girls, who the United Nations say are victims of what amounts to 'gender apartheid.' In his book published in 2023, Farahi claims the Taliban attempted to negotiate — in vain, he insists — with the United States over the fate of Osama bin Laden, whose capture or death Washington demanded after his plane hijackers killed around 3,000 people in the September 11, 2001 attacks. Bin Laden, the leader of Al-Qaeda, who had been based in Afghanistan, was killed by US forces in Pakistan in 2011. 'It was clear... that the Americans had already planned the occupation of Afghanistan,' writes Farahi in the English version of his book, which has been translated into five languages. In the wake of the September 11 attacks, Afghans thought it would 'have nothing to do with our country,' he continues, but soon realized that Afghanistan would face 'punishment.' For 20 years, the war pitted Taliban militants against a US-led coalition of 38 countries supporting the Afghan Republic and its forces. Tens of thousands of Afghans died in the fighting and in Taliban attacks, as did nearly 6,000 foreign soldiers, including 2,400 Americans. For Farahi, the war reflects the West's desire to 'impose its culture and ideology on other nations.' His disjointed journal mixes battlefield memories with polemical chapters railing against the American 'bloodthirsty dragon.' The book 'reveals the truths that were not told before because the media, especially the Western media, presented a different picture of the war,' he said. According to him, the mujahideen, or holy warriors, despite being far less equipped, were able to rely on their unity and God's aid to achieve victory. Only a few of the new wave of Taliban books have been autobiographies, which appeal to an audience seeking to understand the war 'from the inside,' according to Zadran. His book, initially 2,000 copies in Pashto, sold out quickly and another 1,000 are in the works — along with a Dari-language version, he said. Many chapters mention Bowe Bergdahl, the US soldier held hostage for five years by the Haqqani network. He recounts treks through the mountains along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border to move him between hideouts, efforts to convert him to Islam and conversations about his girlfriend back in the US. Both accounts end in 2021, before the transformation of the fighters who moved from remote mountain hideouts to the carpeted offices of the capital. There, their battle has turned diplomatic: the Taliban are now fighting for international recognition of their government. 'The war is over now,' Farahi said, 'and we want good relations with everyone' — even with the 'bloodthirsty dragon.'
Daily Mail
30-05-2025
- General
- Daily Mail
Evil terrorist ties of migrant who lied to the U.S. government when he fled a war-torn nation
An Afghan man charged with lying about serving with the US military on his immigration papers has been identified as a member of a feared terrorist group. Dilbar Gul Dilbar, 33, who was arrested in New York this month and charged with lying to get a visa, has now been linked to the Haqqani Network, an armed Islamist group. Dilbar's alleged terrorist ties were revealed when prosecutors filed papers this week, saying his fingerprints were found on plans for a potential attack in Afghanistan in 2011. US intelligence officers apparently knew of Dilbar's terrorist ties and fraudulent visa claims all along, and let him to enter the US so they could build a case against him. His arrest raises tough questions about America's responsibility to provide sanctuary to Afghans who helped them there, as well as ongoing threats of terrorists entering the US. It comes as US President Donald Trump mounts a harsh crackdown on illegal immigration into the US, a hot button issue during the 2024 election. Dilbar, 33, came to the US with his wife and young children last year on a special immigration visa (SIV), reserved for Afghan and Iraqi interpreters who assisted US forces and diplomats. The dad-of-five was arrested at a home in Rochester, New York, charged with submitting false documents in 2021 to obtain the visa. He previously applied in 2016, but had been denied. US Magistrate Judge Colleen D. Holland remanded him in custody as a potential flight risk. He's accused of submitting a bogus employment letter from a US-based firm in his application in 2021, in the run-up to the collapse of the Afghan government and a chaotic US withdrawal. Dilbar's SIV application was approved in March 2024, according to paperwork, and he applied for and was issued a green card in July. This week, it was revealed that 'it is not a typical visa fraud case,' a filing by prosecutors says. 'The defendant was ineligible for an Afghan SIV not only because he submitted fraudulent employment documentation but also because he was linked to the Haqqani Network,' says the 11-pager. The Pentagon has declassified details since his court hearing that link him to a terrorist plot in Afghanistan, say the papers, which were first reported on by Court Watch. They refer to evidence uncovered at a crime scene in Afghanistan in 2011 by the Terrorist Explosive Device Analytical Center. 'One piece of evidence was a handwritten note. The note contained a series of letters and numbers, possibly the coordinates of a planned terrorist attack,' says the filing. 'The defendant's fingerprint was on the note.' Dilbar awaits trial on the visa fraud charge, for which he faces 10 years behind bars. The Department of Justice has been contacted for further information about his case. It is not clear what Haqqani network plans or attacks Dilbar may have been involved in, or at what level. The militant group is one of the most powerful and feared groups in the Afghan insurgency, blamed for major attacks during the 20-year war. The US mounted its war in Afghanistan to dismantle the Taliban and al-Qaeda after the 9/11 attacks. The US withdrew its forces completely in 2021, leaving Afghanistan in turmoil and the Taliban back in control.
Time of India
11-05-2025
- Business
- Time of India
Trump's takes
He will deal with anyone, even Houthis & Hamas. But even he shouldn't equate India & Pakistan Trump took full credit for helping stop hostilities between India and Pakistan. US did parley with Indian and Pakistani leaders. But there are strong indications he may be overstating his and US role. But that's not holding him back. On his Truth Social platform he's said that he is 'very proud of the strong and unwaveringly powerful leadership of India and Pakistan for having the strength, wisdom and fortitude… to stop the current aggression'. He added, 'While not even discussed, I am going to increase trade, substantially, with both of these great Nations' before finishing with 'God Bless the leadership of India and Pakistan on a job well done!!!' Four months into his second term, Trump's new approach to US foreign policy is now well-known. There are no untouchables. Deals can be done with anyone. That's how he has approached the Ukraine-Russia war, restarting direct diplomacy with Moscow. He's now done a deal with Houthis after bombing them. And there is chatter of a deal with Hamas that doesn't require it to disarm. Clearly, Trump is agnostic about the people he is looking to cut deals with. Even then, treating India and Pakistan as equals, given the latter's track record with terrorism, is puzzling and disconcerting. Pakistan has long been the epicentre of global terror. And this has harmed US. Osama bin Laden was sheltering in Pakistan. Pak-based Haqqani Network has killed many US soldiers. Pak-sponsored 26/11 terror attack in India had killed six Americans. The list goes on. So even for wheeling-dealing Trump, there should be some red lines. Pakistan has long run with the hare and hunted with the hounds, and also bankrupted itself. India has been a democracy, and is now, nearly the world's fourth largest economy. That's a difference the US president should recognise. Facebook Twitter Linkedin Email This piece appeared as an editorial opinion in the print edition of The Times of India.
