THE TIMES: In the year before the Soviet Army’s withdrawal from Afghanistan, there was one Mujahidin leader in particular who frustrated the efforts of General Boris Gromov, the Soviet commander.
He was Jalaluddin Haqqani, an ethnic Pashtun once described as “goodness personified” by Charlie Wilson, the US congressman who helped to fund CIA support for the Afghan resistance. From his base in northern Pakistan, Haqqani hounded Soviet troops, strung out several rounds of failed negotiations and thwarted the last big Soviet offensive, Operation Magistral, in 1987-88.
Today, Wilson is dead and General Gromov has turned to Russian politics. But Haqqani remains the figurehead of a militant army, now led by his eldest son, Sirajuddin, that is considered al-Qaeda’s main ally in the region — and as much of a threat to Nato forces as it was to the Soviets.
As a deadline looms for US troops to start withdrawing next year, the “Haqqani network”, as it is known, is playing as central a role in deciding the future of Afghanistan as it did in 1988. “The big question now is how to deal with the Haqqanis, and that’s where the US and Pakistan disagree,” one Western official familiar with operations in Afghanistan and Pakistan said. Continue reading and comment >>> Jeremy Page, Zahid Hussain, Islamabad | Monday, June 28, 2010
