ISLAMABAD, Sep 9 (APP): After 9/11, Pakistan had proposed an intervention by the United Nations in the conflict-hit Afghanistan instead of a military initiative to save the region from chaos, the former chief of Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) has said.
“We proposed to the US administration at the highest level — the President, the Secretary of State, the director of the CIA and other US leaders — that there should be a UN intervention in Afghanistan,” General (retd) Ehsan ul Haq said in an interview with Arab News published at its website on Thursday.
General Ehsan ul Haq became director-general of the ISI in October 2001, just weeks after the attacks against the US.
In early November 2001, soon after NATO forces entered Afghanistan, Pakistan mounted a little-known diplomatic effort to rescue the region from chaos and the Taliban from self-destruction, with the assistance of Saudi Arabia.
“That was a Pakistan-Saudi Arabia joint initiative,” said Haq, mentioning about his visit along with the late Prince Saud Al-Faisal to Washington as part of efforts to avert any war in Afghanistan.
General Ehsan ul Haq had carried to Washington a four-page letter from Pakistan’s President Pervez Musharraf, addressed to US President George W. Bush.
The letter proposed launching a fresh initiative “to resolve the Afghan conflict through negotiations with those Taliban leaders” willing to cooperate in the fight against Al-Qaeda — the group held responsible for plotting the 9/11 attacks from its Afghan hideout.
He said, “The US could have averted a long and costly war in Afghanistan had it heeded the advice of Pakistani and Saudi officials after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.”
Twenty years on, Haq says the initiative was a missed opportunity for the Americans that could have spared them and the Afghan people “much loss of blood and treasure and preserved regional stability”.
“The war could have been averted in the first place,” Haq said. “The conflict would have been much shorter if the US had heeded recommendations presented by Pakistan and Saudi Arabia after 9/11.”
General Haq said Pakistan and Saudi Arabia “very sincerely” advised the Americans there was no military solution to the situation in Afghanistan and that a political solution backed by the UN was the best option available.
“We said a broad-based consensus government should be brought in under the UN in Afghanistan so that the conflict would not stretch on and strengthen. But unfortunately, our sincere and best efforts were not heeded and the consequence was that the conflict continued for 20 long years.”
Haq said: “The US approached Pakistan about 24 to 36 hours (after 9/11). Pakistan had already condemned what had happened and we had already decided that we would stand with the international community and that our response would be in accordance with UN Security Council resolutions.”
Looking to the future, Haq says Pakistan will gain “strategically” from the Taliban’s return to power because the change of rulers in Kabul will stop India from using Afghan soil to “destabilize” Pakistan. “We see an end to Afghan elements inimical to Pakistan,” he said.
As for the US-Pakistan relationship, Haq believes there is a greater need than ever for its improvement, “because we need the US to help clear the mess and stabilize Afghanistan.” He also urged the Biden administration to recognize and work with the incoming Taliban administration for the sake of the Afghan people.
“If you keep the Taliban government or any other government in Afghanistan on a terrorist and sanctions list of the UN, Afghanistan will not be supported by international organizations,” he said. “And this will affect the behavior of the Taliban government, which will itself create problems.”
