The Afghanistan Chessboard: The CIA, Osama Bin Laden, Taliban & Pakistan ISI

The Darkened Hour

In todays episode, The Taliban and the war for Afghanistan. When the Soviet Union negotiated a retreat out of Afghanistan in 1979, it was Pakistan who mediated the talks. However, the civil war between the Afghan factions, most notably, the Northern Alliance under Ahmed Shah Massoud, the leftover communists and the Taliban with Mohammad "Mullah" Omar began as the fight for control of the country left many tens of thousands dead. The Taliban were led by Mullah Omar, who received weapons left behind by the Soviets in trucks, who in turn, quickly took control of most of the South of the country due to the weapons left behind. It was the notorious Pakistan ISI which led the Taliban to receive the weapons as well as getting funding by Saudi sympathizers and allegedly the CIA. Also, opium traders began to work with the ISI and Taliban, in allowing for the drug trade to exist, uninterrupted, by the Pakistan authorities and intelligence. Soon the drug trade extended to a Saudi, Osama Bin Laden, who by this time began to work alongside the Taliban, and assist their conflict against the Northern Alliance by 1996.

An American pipeline company, Unocal, began offering their plans to involve the Taliban, to construct a transnational pipeline. However, the plan fails when the Taliban finds that their cut of the profits weren't what they expected. The deal was off, and the CIA began conducting intelligence operations against, Bin Laden and Al Qaeda, after the 1998 US East Africa Embassy bombings. The Taliban were then labeled a terrorist orgaznaition while pressure Saudi intelligence tried to negotiate with the Taliban High Council to hand over Bin Laden to Saudi courts. Fearing he would be handed over to the West, they declined. Al Qaeda would deal a blow to the Norther Alliance on September 9th 2001, as they sent two men acting as journalists to assassinate Massoud with a bomb hidden inside a camera. Two days later, the United States would be attacked, just three weeks later, the United States would respond with a military invasion of the country which saw the decimation of the Taliban.