KARACHI: American, Nato and Afghan forces in Afghanistan are seriously worried of the heightened activities of the Taliban. To save themselves, they are engaged in unsoldierly businesses. Now the US and Nato forces are in deals with warlords and Taliban to keep them dormant, thus indirectly funding the Taliban fighting potential.

A well-placed Afghan official, based in Kabul, has startling disclosures about the underhand deals and concessions offered to Taliban in various provinces of Afghanistan. The US and Nato are fighting Taliban freedom fighters on one hand but at the same time paying huge amount of cash and weapons to Taliban to buy local safety and safe passages.

Afghan officials like Governor Balkh Ustad Atta Muhammad and others pay millions of Afghanis and provide large number of weapons to representatives of Taliban in their areas. In return, this ‘Attaya’ force of the Taliban guarantee safety to the officials and their families. The Kabul based official has also revealed that certain government officials were in league with the Taliban and other opposition groups to defame government of President Karzai on one pretext or the other.

The combat alliance of 46 countries, deployed in different provinces of Afghanistan, have evolved their respective mechanism to ensure safety to their troops and supply convoys. Germany, France, Holland the UK to name a few all have brokered local peace deals with the Taliban to avoid casualties.

Does it portray a reluctance of the military to face the adversary? The front remains the security companies who deal on behalf of the US and NATO with Taliban and broker a safe passage or occasional calm in the local area.

This outcome is then portrayed at international level as an operational success of the US and Nato. In December 2009, the US Congress in a wide-ranging probe confirmed that private security companies, hired to protect defence convoys in Afghanistan, were paying off Taliban and warlords for

safe passage.

This remains a testimony about the US and Nato double standards; paying for local securities being unable to cover their operational vulnerabilities with all their air power and military might. Out of operational compulsions US and Nato are in fact feeding the Taliban and warlords to use the same money to perpetuate their activities, or in other words “keep the ball rolling.”

