After the Pakistani Army supported the Taliban to take over Afghanistan to fulfill its long-held desire for strategic depth, a major power struggle has developed between Pakistan Army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa and Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) chief Lt General Faiz Hameed.
As per news reports, Gen Bajwa – who had appointed Hameed as the head of the ISI – is now trying to remove him from his post. But Gen Bajwa has not been successful due to the strong influence of the Pakistani spy agency, which practically nourished the Taliban.
“Over the years, ISI have nurtured and taken care of Taliban leaders and used them to run their interest and operations inside Afghanistan. Now, when the Taliban are in government, the Pakistan Army also wants to influence the decisions there, which is being resisted by the ISI,” sources told India Today.
The ISI has strong links with Haqqani Network, which even the Taliban leaders like Mullah Baradar consider more radical as they do not want an inclusive government and now occupy strong positions in the new Afghanistan government.
When the Afghan government fell and Ashraf Ghani fled the country, to help the Taliban form the new government and ensure various factions and their leaders who lived in the ISI safe houses in Peshawar and Quetta got along, Faiz Hameed travelled to Kabul to take charge.
However, this action was not well received by the Pakistan Army chief Gen Bajwa, who considered it as an act of insubordination. But the fact of the matter is, Bajwa was also interested in trying to push his agenda there, and Faiz Hameed has not allowed it to happen.
Now the constant interference by the Pakistan army to help form the new Afghanistan government has also resulted in fissures inside the Taliban, particularly among supporters of Mullah Baradar because they feel Baradar and Baitullah Akhunzada have been sidelined.
Due to the constant interference by Pakistan, there is now a strong possibility of a civil war in Afghanistan as it happened after the Soviet Union left in 1989. Now the situation is such that there is disagreement on every decision that is being made, leading to governance paralysis.
There are also reports that the ISI wants a share of the money or aid that Afghans may receive from western nations.
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