Washington's "double diplomacy" in Afghanistan

МОСКВА, 02 сентября 2021, Институт РУССТРАТ. The US administration is offering $5 million for information about the whereabouts of one of the leaders of the Taliban Khalil ur-Rehman Haqqani, who was put on the wanted list by the US government 10 years ago. According to the State Department, Haqqani acted on behalf of Al-Qaeda and was associated with terrorist operations. According to NBC, the activities of one of the leaders of the Taliban were associated with kidnapping, as well as the preparation and development of operations involving suicide bombers. It is characteristic that for many years the United States, through its allies, supplied the militants with weapons, including those who are today so diligently being searched for by the American intelligence agencies. That is, when Washington  talks today about a principled fight against terrorists, it should be perceived rather as another attempt to disguise its own mistakes with political rhetoric. By the way, the weapons this time were also left to the Taliban when Americans left Afghanistan. It is difficult to believe that the American intelligence agencies did not have information about the panic moods of the Afghan army soldiers. This may indicate that they simply "turned a blind eye" to the seizure of military bases and the mass transfer of government troops to the side of the Taliban. The current actions of the United States and its allies are a well-known "double diplomacy", which has been repeatedly tested in various regions of the world. Based on this "strategy", the State Department divides terrorist groups into "moderate" and "uncontrolled". Accordingly, they cooperate with the "moderate" ones and supply them with weapons and money. And the "uncontrolled" ones perform the role of "scapegoats". Khalil ur-Rehman Haqqani is one of the members of the well-known Haqqani family. He handles its finances. His father, Jalaluddin Haqqani, was the founder of the terrorist organisation "Haqqani Network", which waged a guerrilla war against Soviet troops in Afghanistan under the strict leadership of the Americans, and after their withdrawal actively cooperated with Al-Qaeda and controlled drug trafficking. It is noteworthy that it was Haqqani Sr. who helped Osama bin Laden escape from the Americans from Tora Bora. Khalil ur-Rehman Haqqani was responsible for financial cooperation with the leader of Al-Qaeda. In the early 80s, Jalaluddin Haqqani personally met with a congressman from Texas, Charlie Wilson, through whom he managed to establish ties with the CIA and receive financial assistance for "Afghan resistance fighters". Wilson met Haqqani through a brigadier general and the head of the Afghan direction of the ISI (Inter-departmental Intelligence of Pakistan) Mohammad Yousaf. The latter noted that Jalaluddin enjoyed their special privileges and "participated in the battle against the Russians for the base of Jawar." After the death of Jalaluddin, the organisation was headed by his son, Khalil's brother – Sirajuddin. Being one of the active field commanders of the Taliban, in August 2015 he was appointed second-in-command of the head of the Taliban Akhtar Mohammad Mansour. Khalil ur-Rehman Haqqani today "works" in the office of the Taliban in Doha and participates in peace talks with the Americans. And then the United States once again remembers the wanted Khalil Hakanni. It turns out that on the one hand, the US administration is negotiating with the leaders of the Taliban. On the other hand, they make furious statements about the elimination of these same terrorists. Although, if we consider that it is precisely the Haqqani family that is responsible for the security of Kabul and Afghanistan as a whole, the question arises: who benefits from discrediting those who are already discredited? Despite the transport of people abroad and the withdrawal of troops, this territory will always be in the field of attention of the United States, especially in light of claims from opponents and the desire for a soft change of power. It is time for Washington to reflect on the fact that such "double diplomacy" eventually leads to the death of thousands of people and to the failure of another US "mission".