The leaked report — seen by The Times newspaper and BBC — was compiled from information gleaned from insurgent detainees and was given to Nato commanders in Afghanistan last month, the media reports said.
The “State of the Taliban” document claims that Islamabad, via Pakistan’s ISI intelligence agency, is “intimately involved” with the insurgency. The BBC said the report was based on material from 27,000 interrogations of more than 4,000 captured Taliban and al-Qaeda operatives.
“Pakistan’s manipulation of the Taliban senior leadership continues unabatedly,” the report was quoted as saying. Taliban captives revealed how Islamabad was using a web of intermediaries and spies to provide strategic advice to the Taliban on fighting Western coalition troops.
“The government of Pakistan remains intimately involved with the Taliban,” the report said. “ISI is thoroughly aware of Taliban activities and the whereabouts of senior Taliban personnel. Senior Taliban leaders meet regularly with ISI personnel, who advise on strategy and relay any pertinent concerns of the government of Pakistan.
“ISI officers tout the need for continued jihad and expulsion of foreign invaders from Afghanistan.” However, there was little evidence from the detainees that Islamabad was providing funding or weaponry.
Kabul, which accuses Islamabad of supporting the 10-year Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan, put relations on ice after the September murder of its peace envoy Burhanuddin Rabbani, which one Afghan minister blamed on Pakistani spies.
The Times quoted the report as saying the Taliban’s “strength, motivation, funding and tactical proficiency remains intact”, despite setbacks in 2011.
“Many Afghans are already bracing themselves for an eventual return of the Taliban,” it said. “Once (Nato force) Isaf is no longer a factor, Taliban consider their victory inevitable.” The US Department of Defense said it could not comment on the report but set out its fears about Pakistan and its influence in Afghanistan.
“We have not seen the report, and therefore cannot offer comment on it specifically,” Pentagon spokesman George Little told AFP.
“We have long been concerned about ties between elements of the ISI and some extremist networks.”
US Defence Secretary Leon Panetta “has also been clear that he believes that the safe havens in Pakistan remain a serious problem and need to be addressed by Pakistani authorities.”
The report said there had been unprecedented interest in joining the Taliban cause in 2011 — even from members of the Afghan government.
“Afghan civilians frequently prefer Taliban governance over the Afghan government, usually as a result of government corruption,” it was reported as saying.
It said the Taliban were deliberately going soft in some areas to encourage Nato troops to leave faster, while doing local deals with the Afghan forces who take over.
Some in the Afghan security forces collaborated with the Taliban, selling arms and sharing intelligence, the report said.
The Times, in an editorial, said Pakistan was “actively hindering reconciliation” between the Taliban and Kabul with a “systematic effort” to destabilise President Hamid Karzai’s government.
“The ISI emerges from this document looking considerably more villainous, even, than the Taliban itself,” it said.
Pakistan hit out angrily at the report, calling it “frivolous” and “not worth commenting on”.
“This is frivolous, to put it mildly. We are committed to non-interference in Afghanistan and expect all other states to strictly adhere to this principle,” foreign ministry spokesman Abdul Basit told AFP.
A senior security official condemned the leak, as reported by the BBC, which also broadcast a documentary “Secret Pakistan” last year accusing parts of Pakistan’s intelligence service of complicity with Taliban militants. “The report is not available, leaks not worth commenting,” he told this agency.
Reuters adds: The US military said in a secret report that the Taliban, backed by Pakistan, are set to retake control of Afghanistan after Nato-led forces withdraw, raising the prospect of a major failure of Western policy after a costly war.
Lieutenant Colonel Jimmie Cummings, a spokesman for the Nato-led International Security Assistance Force, confirmed the existence of the document, reported on Wednesday by Britain’s Times newspaper and the BBC. But he said it was not a strategic study.
“The classified document in question is a compilation of Taliban detainee opinions,” he said. “It’s not an analysis, nor is it meant to be considered an analysis.”
Nevertheless, it could be interpreted as a damning assessment of the war, dragging into its 11th year and aimed at blocking a Taliban return to power. It could also be seen as an admission of defeat and could reinforce the view of Taliban hardliners that they should not negotiate with the United States and President Hamid Karzai’s unpopular government while in a position of strength.
The US military said in the document that Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) security agency was assisting the Taliban in directing attacks against foreign forces. Reasserting control over the country would be more difficult a second time for the Taliban, however, with Afghan police and soldiers expected to number around 350,000 beyond 2014 and some foreign troops likely to remain, including elite forces.
The Times said the “highly classified” report was put together by the US military at Bagram air base, north of Kabul, for top Nato officers last month.
The document may leave some US policymakers wondering whether the war was worth the cost in human lives and funding. As of late January, 1,889 US soldiers had been killed in a conflict that was launched after the Sept 11, 2001 attacks and has drained almost half a trillion dollars from US coffers.
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