R Krishna Das
Pakistan might claim it played an important role in the Taliban takeover in Afghanistan, but its job was limited to only freeing three top militant commanders; one of them was the chief negotiator of the Doha talks.
It was not Pakistan, America itself had prepared the framework for its return from Afghanistan. The Taliban or Pakistan might pat its back for the return of US forces after 20 years, but it all happened only with the consent of America. During the Doha talks, the deadline for the US withdrawal was set for May. Former President Donald Trump even criticised President Joe Biden for not withdrawing the forces by May, as agreed in the US-Taliban agreement.
While the preparation for the Doha talks between America and Taliban was on, the latter had demanded the release of its three top commanders jailed in Pakistan. The US authorities asked Pakistan to act accordingly.
US Senator Chris Van Hollen said at the first senate hearing on the US withdrawal from Afghanistan that the Trump administration had enabled the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan, vindicating Pakistan that it had only released three top Taliban commanders on the then US government’s request to push forward the Afghan peace process.
When Hollen asked, “Is it not the fact that the Trump administration asked the Pakistani government to release three top Taliban commanders as part of that process?” Secretary of State Antony Blinken said: “That’s correct.”
Abdul Ghani Baradar was one of those released to the US negotiators who stressed for not including the former Afghan government in the Doha talks and pressuring them to release 5,000 Taliban prisoners who were later involved in Kabul’s takeover, Blinken added.
Surprisingly, under the agreement reached, it was finalised that US forces would leave by May and would not be attacked but there was no such restriction on attacking Afghan forces. Literally, it was America that gave the greenlight to attack the Afghan forces.
