TRUE DEMOCRACY SPRING 2001 TABLE OF CONTENTS
Did You Know? part 2
*The CIA worked in tandem with Pakistan to create the "monster" that is
today Afghanistan's ruling Taliban, a leading US expert on South Asia,
Selig Harrison, a senior fellow with The Century Foundation. The US provided
$3 billion for building up these Islamic groups, and it accepted Pakistan's
demand that they should decide how this money should be spent, Harrison
said. Harrison recalled a conversation he had with the late Gen Zia-ul Haq
of Pakistan. "General Zia spoke about expanding Pakistan's sphere of
influence to control Afghanistan, then Uzbekistan and Tajikstan and then
Iran and Turkey," Harrison said. That design continues, he said.
Gen.Mohammed Aziz who was involved in that Zia plan has been elevated now to
a key position by Chief Executive, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, Harrison said.
The old associations between the intelligence agencies continue, Harrison
said. "The CIA still has close links with the ISI (Pakistan's Inter-Services
Intelligence)."
Today that money and those weapons have helped build up the Taliban,
who are persecuting women in Afghanistan unmercilessly for the slightest
action they consider blasphemous including a bare arm. "The Taliban are not
just recruits from 'madrassas' (Muslim theological schools) but are on the
payroll of the ISI (Inter Services Intelligence, the intelligence wing of
the Pakistani government)." The Taliban are now "making a living out of
terrorism."
Harrison said the UN Security Council resolution number 1333 calls for
an embargo on arms to the Taliban. "But it is a resolution without
teeth because it does not provide sanctions for non-compliance," he
said. "The US is not backing the Russians who want to give more teeth
to the resolution."
Now it is Pakistan that "holds the key to the future of Afghanistan,"
Harrison said. The creation of the Taliban was central to Pakistan's
"pan-Islamic vision," Harrison said.
It came after "the CIA made the historic mistake of encouraging
Islamic groups from all over the world to come to Afghanistan," he
said. The creation of the Taliban had been "actively encouraged by the
ISI and the CIA," he said. "Pakistan has been building up Afghan
collaborators who will sustain Pakistan," he said. (IANS)
MORE ON THE TALIBAN AND OTHER "MONSTERS" OF THE CIA:
For more details on the CIA's role in creating the Taliban, and dozens
of other terrorist organizations around the world, refer to the latest
issue of COAT's magazine, Press for Conversion!. This issue (#43) is
on the theme: "A People's History of the CIA: The Subversion of
Democracy from Australia to Zaire." It is available (full-text) at
our web site http://www.ncf.ca/coat/
*Former Pakistani leader Benazir Bhutto tried very diligently to end child
labor. She was inaugurated as the first female leader of an Islamic country
in 1988.
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