Strategic Playbook continues……….

An important ‘S Wing’ agent is the Haqqani Network. The founder leader of the Haqqani Network, Jalaluddin Haqqani, has for the most part been loyal to the Pakistan Army’s cause in Afghanistan. According to a US-NATO report leaked in 2010, the ISI “provides intelligence and financial support to insurgent groups—especially the Jalaluddin Haqqani network operating out of Miram Shah, North Waziristan—to conduct attacks in Afghanistan against the Afghan government, ISAF, and Indian targets.” The Haqqanis have helped Pakistan in their quest for ‘strategic depth’ in Afghanistan, contain India’s expanding footprint in the country, act as a military support in the tribal areas, and as a valuable mediator in FATA and areas abutting the Durand Line. During the Afghan Jihad, the Haqqanis not only helped Pakistan Army officers with training and logistics but also facilitated their interaction with the Taliban.

The group, since 2001, has also given the ISI a cloak of deniability in attacks carried out against the Western troops in Afghanistan. Former ISI chief, Hamid Gul, called Jalaluddin Haqqani a ‘personal friend’ and sent two of his sons to fight in the Afghan Jihad alongside Haqqani. The Haqqanis, in return, had such faith in the Army that some of the senior Haqqani clan members lived in Islamabad, quite close to the centres of power. Nasiruddin Haqqani was one of them. He used to handle the Haqqani Network finances as well as the delivery of funds from the Taliban. He also represented his younger brother Sirajuddin in meetings with the ISI and the Taliban Central Shura.

To be continued………