Daily Times

On 16 January 2017, Pakistan Army Chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa suggested an effective border management mechanism and intelligence cooperation with Afghanistan for tackling the menace of terrorism and ‘Talibanisation’ across the Durand Line. In a telephone conversation with the Afghan President, Bajwa reiterated Pakistan’s cooperation with Afghanistan. However, due to its bitter past experience, Afghanistan is no longer willing to repeat the ruckus that had emanated from the underwhelming saga of the memorandum of understanding signed between the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and the National Directorate of Security (NDS) back in 2015. The two states had then agreed on sharing intelligence, cooperating in terrorism operations and conducting a joint investigation against terror suspects. The intelligence cooperation between the two states, however, remained procrastinated, while the Afghan intelligence leadership irresponsibly criticised President Ghani and his cabinet; expressing bitter resentment against the ISI leadership and the Pakistan army for their involvement in Afghanistan. Afghanistan’s former president, Hamid Karzai, also openly displayed his animosity towards Pakistan and did not hesitate to blame the ISI for attacks in Afghanistan.

Pakistan has often said that it supports all peace efforts in Afghanistan, but there has not yet been any breakthrough on the negotiation front between Taliban and the Afghan government. During a meeting with the Swedish Ambassador to Afghanistan, Ghani opined, “Pakistan should have an understanding of the situation in Afghanistan and the same definition of terrorism with regard to Afghanistan as it does domestically.” He also expressed anger towards Pakistan for its involvement in terrorist attacks in Afghanistan, blaming the country for failing to tackle extremist forces. He said, “We hoped for peace, but war is declared against us from Pakistan territory.”

Kabul’s friendly relations with India and its involvement in terrorist attacks in Balochistan have also irked Pakistan as intelligence experts view the presence of Indian intelligence and terrorist networks in Afghanistan as the main factor causing mistrust between Kabul and The questions that arise are why Afghan intelligence has always failed? What is the impact of political interference in its operations? How does it operate in and outside the country? To clear the ooze, we need to address these questions through an academic discourse of intelligence operation in war and peace times. As we already understand, intelligence is the most important weapon of the state in modern war. In the information age, intelligence has also taken on an even greater importance. But in the popular media, the principles, role, and purpose of intelligence are very often misrepresented at best. The secret nature of intelligence work applies to the state-to-state cooperation, where intelligence agencies keep their agenda secret during the interoperability process; sharing important information related to national security.

State-to-state intelligence sharing is, in fact, a collaboration between two states in countering terrorism and serious organised crime. As the movement of travellers in and out of volatile regions increases, organisations like Taliban and the IS have taken root; the need for trans-border cooperation has grown. States with advanced intelligence capacity are influential in all aspects. However, the NDS and its weak security approach have caused irrelevance to the counter-insurgency operation in Afghanistan. The Taliban intelligence war in Kunduz and elsewhere in Afghanistan received mixed responses in military and political circles, where terrorist groups used cell phones to organise and coordinate surprise attacks against the government forces. This was a lesson for the NDS authorities who were unable to use their interception communication capabilities.

The problem lies with how the NDS stakeholders approach the subject of their operational failures. Whenever an attack happens in any part of Afghanistan, ethnic and political interference or inadequate intelligence is cited as a major cause. In fact, the unbalanced approach of NDS to counter terrorism is making things worse as its unprofessional leadership has established a secret relationship with many sectarian and ethnic groups, and furthered their agenda in the war-torn country. In retrospect, the rise and fall of Afghan intelligence agencies, and the way they operated during the last three decades left reams of bloodstained and heartbreaking stories in newspapers, journals and books. The KHAD killed thousands in its secret prisons, in broad daylight, and in its torture cells, the NDS killed, tortured and forcefully disappeared thousands innocent Afghan men, women and children. International human rights organisations and Afghanistan’s Independent Human Rights Commission in their research papers deeply criticised the National Directorate of Security (NDS) for its brutal ways of retrieving information from detainees. These illegal tactics alienated the citizens from the state and forced young people to take arm against the government and its international partners. The War on Terror has left Afghanistan without a viable centralised intelligence agency. The government and military are both crippled by the “bad intelligence” due to lack of mutual trust and limited information sharing. Despite America’s commitment to a “War on Terror,” Afghan intelligence agencies remain unprofessional and profoundly ill-equipped to fight the Taliban and ISIS, incapable of effectively warning of threats, blocking deadly attacks, or adhering to elementary standards of treatment for suspects and prisoners. Torture, custodial death, and denial of due process continue to drive citizens into revolt. As the deterioration of law and order, security, and the environment of harassment continues to force the residents of Jalalabad, Helmand, Kunduz, Kunar and Herat provinces to unknown destinations, lives of common citizens became on the spike. In 2016, more than 80,000 people including professionals and skilled workers left the country for Europe, the United States, Canada and Australia. They were under threat from Taliban and the ISIL. Taliban are busy in their insurgency in almost a dozen provinces of the country, and their role and power are increasing with every passing day. The recent incidents of torture, humiliation, killings and beheading by the IS in the Achin, Kot, and Sherzad Districts of Jalalabad province and the prevailing clouds of harassment in other districts, common citizens are in a state of distress and fear. As we experienced in 2016, Taliban all but defeated Afghan National Army and captured large swath of territory, while Pakistan’s support to Taliban continued. However, intensification of war led too much suffering; an increase in civilian casualties. We hope The NDS stakeholders will improve the operational capabilities of the agency in dealing with terror-related incidents in Afghanistan. The NDS leadership also needs to distance from ethnic and sectarian politics and focus on national security issues.

The writer is author of “Fixing the EU Intelligence Crisis” and can be reached at zai.musakhan222@gmail.com