US, Pakistan face each other again on Afghanistan threats

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WASHINGTON – The Taliban's takeover of Kabul has deepened the communal distrust betwixt the U.S. and Pakistan, 2 putative allies who person tangled implicit Afghanistan. But some sides inactive request each other.

With the Biden medication looking for caller ways to halt violent threats successful Afghanistan, it volition apt look again to Pakistan, which remains captious to U.S. quality and nationalist information due to the fact that of its proximity to Afghanistan and connections to the Taliban leaders present successful charge.

Over 2 decades of war, American officials accused Pakistan of playing a treble crippled by promising to combat coercion and cooperate with Washington portion cultivating the Taliban and different extremist groups that attacked U.S. forces successful Afghanistan. Islamabad, meanwhile, pointed to what it saw arsenic failed promises of a supportive authorities successful Kabul aft the U.S. drove the Taliban from powerfulness pursuing the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks arsenic extremist groups took refuge successful eastbound Afghanistan and launched deadly attacks passim Pakistan.

But the U.S. wants Pakistani practice successful counterterrorism efforts and could question support to alert surveillance flights into Afghanistan oregon different quality cooperation. And Pakistan wants U.S. subject assistance and bully relations with Washington, adjacent arsenic its leaders openly observe the Taliban's emergence to power.

“Over the past 20 years, Pakistan has been captious for assorted logistics purposes for the U.S. military. What’s truly been troubling is that, unfortunately, determination hasn’t been a batch of trust,” said U.S. Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi, an Illinois Democrat who sits connected the House Intelligence Committee. “I deliberation the question is whether we tin get implicit that past to get astatine a caller understanding.”

Former diplomats and quality officers from some countries accidental the possibilities for practice are severely constricted by the events of the past 2 decades and Pakistan's enduring contention with India. The erstwhile Afghan government, which was powerfully backed by New Delhi, routinely accused Pakistan of harboring the Taliban. The caller Taliban authorities includes officials that American officials person agelong believed are linked to Pakistan's spy agency, the Inter-Services Intelligence.

Husain Haqqani, a erstwhile Pakistani ambassador to the U.S., said helium understood “the temptation of officials successful some countries to effort and instrumentality vantage of the situation” and find communal ground. But Haqqani said helium expected Pakistan to springiness “all imaginable practice to the Taliban.”

“This has been a infinitesimal Pakistan has been waiting for 20 years,” said Haqqani, present astatine the Hudson Institute deliberation tank. “They present consciousness that they person a outer state."

U.S. officials are trying to rapidly physique what President Joe Biden calls an “over the horizon” capableness to show and halt violent threats.

Without a spouse state bordering Afghanistan, the U.S. has to alert surveillance drones agelong distances, limiting the clip they tin beryllium utilized to ticker implicit targets. The U.S. besides mislaid astir of its web of informants and quality partners successful the now-deposed Afghan government, making it captious to find communal crushed with different governments that person much resources successful the country.

Pakistan could beryllium adjuvant successful that effort by allowing “overflight” rights for American spy planes from the Persian Gulf oregon permitting the U.S. to basal surveillance oregon counterterrorism teams on its borderline with Afghanistan. There are fewer different options among Afghanistan’s neighbors. Iran is simply a U.S. adversary. And Central Asian countries northbound of Afghanistan each look varying degrees of Russian influence.

There are nary known agreements truthful far. CIA Director William Burns visited Islamabad earlier this period to conscionable with Gen. Qamar Javed Bajwa, Pakistan’s service chief, and Lt. Gen. Faiz Hameed, who leads the ISI, according to a Pakistani authorities statement. Burns and Hameed person besides separately visited Kabul successful caller weeks to conscionable with Taliban leaders. The CIA declined to remark connected the visits.

Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi noted this week that Islamabad had cooperated with U.S. requests to facilitate bid talks earlier the Taliban takeover and that it had agreed to U.S. subject requests passim the war.

“We person often been criticized for not doing enough,” Qureshi told The Associated Press connected Wednesday. “But we’ve not been appreciated capable for having done what was done.”

Qureshi would not straight reply whether Pakistan would let the basing of surveillance instrumentality oregon overflight of drones.

“They don’t person to beryllium physically determination to stock intelligence,” helium said of the U.S. “There are smarter ways of doing it."

The CIA and ISI person a agelong past successful Afghanistan, dating backmost to their shared extremity of arming bands of mujahedeen — “freedom fighters” — against the Soviet Union’s concern successful the 1980s. The CIA sent weapons and wealth into Afghanistan done Pakistan.

Those fighters included Osama bin Laden. Others would go leaders of the Taliban, which emerged victorious from a civilian warfare successful 1996 and gained power of astir of the country. The Taliban gave refuge to bin Laden and different leaders of al-Qaida, which launched deadly attacks connected Americans overseas successful 1998 and past struck the U.S. connected Sept. 11, 2001.

After 9/11, the U.S. instantly sought Pakistan’s practice successful its combat against al-Qaida and different violent groups. Declassified cables published by George Washington University’s National Security Archive amusement officials successful President George W. Bush’s medication made respective demands of Pakistan, from intercepting arms shipments heading to al-Qaida to providing the U.S. with quality and support to alert subject and quality planes implicit its territory.

The CIA would transportation retired hundreds of drone strikes launched from Pakistan targeting al-Qaida leaders and others alleged to person ties to violent groups. Hundreds of civilians died successful the strikes, according to figures kept by extracurricular observers, starring to wide protests and nationalist choler successful Pakistan.

Pakistan, meanwhile, continued to beryllium accused of harboring the Taliban aft the U.S.-backed conjugation drove the radical from powerfulness successful Kabul. And bin Laden was killed successful 2011 by U.S. peculiar forces successful a concealed raid connected a compound successful the Pakistani metropolis of Abbottabad, location to the country’s subject academy. The bin Laden cognition led galore successful the U.S. to question whether Pakistan had harbored bin Laden and angered Pakistanis who felt the raid violated their sovereignty.

For years, CIA officials tried to face their Pakistani counterparts aft collecting much impervious of Pakistani quality officers helping the Taliban determination wealth and fighters into a then-growing insurgency successful neighboring Afghanistan, said Douglas London, who oversaw the CIA’s counterterrorism operations successful South Asia until 2018.

“They would say, ‘You conscionable travel to my office, archer maine wherever the determination is,’” helium said. “They would conscionable usually wage articulator work to america and accidental they couldn’t corroborate the intel.”

London, writer of the forthcoming publication “The Recruiter,” said helium expected American quality would see constricted partnerships with Pakistan connected communal enemies specified arsenic al-Qaeda oregon Islamic State-Khorasan, which took work for the deadly termination onslaught extracurricular the Kabul airdrome past period during the last days of the U.S. evacuation.

The risk, London said, is astatine times “your spouse is arsenic overmuch of a menace to you arsenic the force who you’re pursuing.”

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Associated Press writer Edith M. Lederer contributed to this study from the United Nations.

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