Daily Times

There can be no disagreement that reforms and the intelligence mechanism in Afghanistan need urgently to be upgraded, because the recent stories of torture and killing of innocent political workers and ordinary people in KHAD-run secret detention centres raise many questions. The international community has also voiced the need for urgent reforms, and demands a thorough investigation into the Afghan spy networks to find out who is who, and who is working for whom.

To better understand the importance of intelligence in a state, I want to quote some experts who defined intelligence in different ways. Once Einstein told his colleagues, “The true sign of intelligence is not knowledge but imagination.” Major-General V K Singh defined intelligence as the second oldest profession and a tool or an input that is required by the country’s policy makers and planners to promote global and regional interests. According to a former chairman of Britain’s joint intelligence committee, Roderick Braithwaite, “Intelligence is a subject that ought to be intrinsically uninteresting.” Former director of Britain’s GCHQ agency, Sir David Omand, is of the opinion that “close interaction between collector and analyst, and between analyst and user, have become a feature of the modern intelligence cycle”.

These are the ideas of experts who defined intelligence. Unfortunately, however, Afghan intelligence infrastructure does not fit into any of these categories. The unnecessary political and military influence of western intelligence agencies, including the CIA, is considered an obstacle to mending the problem. This influence has always caused frustration as most KHAD agents want to work independently.

At present, the Afghan spy agencies are not free of foreign influence and the Afghan government does not have full control over their networks. For example, in one incident President Hamid Karzai ordered the release of journalist Hujattullah Mujaddidi, arrested by KHAD to recruit him as an informer. The agency refused, saying they knew better than the president. In reality, the leadership of the Afghan secret services has undergone no reforms since inception, and as such orders from the president hold no importance for them.

The US military machine understands that its successes in the war on terror depend on the cooperation of Afghanistan’s controversial spy agencies. However, European and other western intelligence agencies have long criticised KHAD, WAD and NDS for their non-professionalism. They understand that Afghan spy agents provide them with low quality disinformation about the Taliban and other terror groups inside Pakistan. Lack of professional leadership is another phenomenon.

The promotion of a Panjshiri, Amrullah Saleh, to the rank of intelligence chief was the final step in making the agency controversial. He was sponsored by a US Congressman for an honorary degree from an American university to help create an acceptable veneer. In the presence of such non-professional intelligence leadership, how can one expect long-term or short-term intelligence reforms in Afghanistan?

A majority of Afghan intelligence operatives receive double salaries — from their offices as well as from private intelligence and security agencies. They share national secrets with these agencies in exchange for a paltry monthly salary. They also receive money from the Taliban in exchange for information. Consequently, they own properties across the country. They also run drugs and arms trafficking businesses spanning Central Asia, Afghanistan and Pakistan.

They torture journalists, political workers and kill innocent civilians in custody. Recently, the brutal murder of Maulavi Abdullah by the agency in Khost province once again enraged the entire country. This is not the first time Afghan spy agencies tortured an innocent man to death in their private jails. There are thousands of gory stories of innocent men, women and children who have been killed, tortured, raped and forcibly made to disappear by KHAD in the recent past. Maulavi Abdullah was brought to hospital severely beaten, and unable to eat and drink due to kidney failure.

The story of his shameful torture and humiliation first appeared in the western media a couple of weeks ago after the UN office released a detailed report regarding the widespread mistreatment and torture of detainees in the secret jails of the Afghan police and intelligence agencies (KHAD, WAD, RAMA and NDS) in Paktia province. The Afghan government is aware of all these illegal ways of investigation but it has no control over its rogue spy agencies. According to local journalists, over 300 Afghan citizens told the UN’s investigative team that they had been physically or mentally abused by Afghan intelligence agencies in secret detention centres. The UN interviewed these pre-trial detainees in 74 detention centres from 2010 to 2011.

The story of the secret network of Afghan jails that sprang up after 9/11 is a painful one. Political opponents and ordinary citizens are still being held in these jails with uncertain rights. Though Afghan intelligence agencies are in complete denial, human rights groups have gathered authentic information about these illegal detention centres. Every Afghan ruler established his own secret agency and used it against political opponents and innocent civilians.

In 1978, the PDPA-led government of President Noor Muhammad Tarakai established a secret agency (AGSA) and used it against his political opponents. Mr Hafizullah Amin established another new secret agency (KAM), which killed Tarakai. In 1980, Afghan intelligence enjoyed a formidable measure of autonomy, because it had some success in penetrating the Afghan mujahideen groups in Pakistan. In 1986, Dr Najibullah Khan established two more secret agencies (KHAD and WAD) to protect his government from outside penetration.

In 1992 the mujahideen, and in 1996 the Taliban established the Islamic Intelligence Services (Istekhbarat-e-Islami) and used these against their opponents. Finally, after the stories of Mr Amrullah Saleh’s terror networks in Pakistan’s tribal belts appeared in the international press, President Hamid Karzai replaced him with Rahmatullah Nabeel at short notice in 2010.

The writer is the author of Afghanistan Beyond 2014 and Punjabi Taliban. He can be reached at zai.musakhan222@gmail.com