Pakistan fears Taliban return to power, leak shows

Pakistan does not want the Taliban to seize control of Afghanistan when international forces pull out, according to a leaked account of a meeting with the recently retired head of its intelligence service.

The country's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agency has long been accused of siding with the Taliban as part of a strategy to ensure a friendly government in Kabul and to ensure that its arch-rival India cannot gain a foothold.

But details of an interview with Lt Gen Ahmad Shuja Pasha, who stepped down as ISI director-general last weekend, give an insight into the agency's secretive world and its position on Afghanistan.

The account of the meeting in April last year — written by a researcher with the private intelligence firm Stratfor and obtained by WikiLeaks — suggests that the ISI fears that a Taliban takeover would have dangerous implications for Pakistan's security.

"We do not wish to see the Talibs dominate Afghanistan," he said. "On the contrary, we want to see a broad-based government that can end the civil war in that country, which has had a disastrous fallout for us. Of course the Talibs will be a key player in a post-NATO Afghanistan, which we feel is necessary for true peace to take place."

Well-placed observers in Islamabad suggest Pakistan's Afghan policy is undergoing a period of "evolution".

Having worked closely with jihadi groups to oust Soviet forces from Afghanistan in the 1980s and then helped the Taliban to power, Pakistan's security forces have suffered huge losses in recent years as some militant groups turned against Islamabad. That concern about violence remains balanced, for now, with the knowledge that the Taliban could still be useful in negotiating a favourable deal in Afghanistan.