Pakistan Military and ISI Must Purge Ranks

A few years ago, I was invited to an extraordinary set of meetings in Beijing organized by Marika Vicziany of Monash University. The meeting featured participants like then Labor Party leader (and next Australia Ambassador to the U.S.) Kim Beazley and former Ministers of Defense of India and China -- and leading policy personalities from the Asia Pacific region. And Generals from Pakistan.

I was the token American in what was a fascinating exercise of China, India and Pakistan former officials floating trial balloons about their respective nations' security needs and assessments among a ring of people very close to incumbent power.

My flight was late, but when I arrived I rushed in to the conference opening luncheon and sat at the first table I found a seat. I usually say hello to every person at tables I'm seated at and did so this time.

And as I worked around the group, I met a tough-edged but obviously seriously intelligent general from Pakistan, Asad Durrani. I didn't know much about him then but could tell that my table companions had been discussing Pakistan's ISI (Inter-Services Intelligence) -- so I jumped in with a question:

General Durrani, does President Musharraf really not control the ISI? Or is this a big put-on?

I had hit a nerve of the table as every jaw dropped -- except Durrani's.

He sat there, quite nonplussed by the question which I had just pitched to the person everyone but I knew had actually been the head of ISI in the early 1990s.

Durrani seemed to like my candor, and he candidly responded:

President Musharraf may have much to gain by seeming that he does not control ISI.

I became quite taken with the level-headed candor and smart strategic sense General Durrani displayed over the next two days -- and his comments about ISI and Pakistan's political leadership were deeply imprinted on my thinking about the shell game of trusting Pakistan's intelligence and national security services.

Now after news that nine armed terrorists linked to al Qaeda and Pakistan's Taliban infiltrated the command headquarters of Pakistan's military, it seems to me that whatever certainty of control Pakistan's political and military leaders had over their ranks is now broken.

The Rawalpindi incident could not have occurred without inside help, and fortunately, one of the ringleaders in the attack, a former soldier named Muhammad Aqeel, was captured.

Pakistan's responsible national intelligence authorities must now begin to track all of the contacts and intelligence relations of this terrorist operation and purge their ranks of those connected. When Aldrich Ames was hiding behind mole hunts in the CIA, it finally took an investigation by the FBI to finally bring him down.

Painful as internal hunts can be for those who are collaborating with enemies of a state, they must be pursued because confidence can't be established without purging those who are helping to empower the most virulent wings of the Taliban in Afghanistan and Pakistan as well as al Qaeda and other groups.

This is Pakistan's fight but it has bearing on all of its allies and partners -- but tolerating a Pakistan security structure that is unwilling to exploit every lead to shut down internal spies and allies of those trying to bring down the Pakistani government and secure its nuclear weapons is not an option.

Pakistan should establish a Commission headed by General Asad Durrani with other former ISI director generals to run this search and hunt among their ranks.

The military and national security bureaucracy may protect some of their own in such a purge -- but in the end, all of those who are embedded and collaborating with the likes of those who led the military attack at Command Headquarters need to be neutralized.

-- Steve Clemons publishes the popular political blog, The Washington Note

 

 

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Comments

[Jyoti Naik]

As long as Pakistanis are fighting each other and the Taliban created by their military, it is a good thing becasue they will leave indai alone :-)

[arvay]

Americans who tell other nations what they "must" do are living in a fantasy world, or at least a world where that once widely heralded imperative is quickly becoming a joke.

Pakistan is doing with the ISI and the Taliban exactly what's logical from their point of view: keeping a reliable anti-Indian insurgent force on tap. I don't think it's accidental that that Indian facility was bombed in Kabul -- message delivered.

There is no "or else" to buttress the "must." Until the ISI gets what it wants in Afghanistan, we'll continue to bleed. What are we going to do -- invade Pakistan?

Some elements have gone rogue and they are being eliminated by the Pakistani armed forces. With the support of the Pakistani population. Which we, of course, lack in both Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Our best way out of the Afghan mess is to allow Pakistan to set up a non-India-friendly proxy government in Kabul that can be kept from attacking us and our allies. Since Pakistan has the purse strings and has been the only party able to corral and squash rogue elements -- they seem like the best people to negotiate with.

Not openly of course, but with appropriate face-saving charades for us.

[Durango]

The need for Afghanistan being a defense in depth for the ndefendablePakistan went out with the first testing of the Pakistani nuclear bomb.

Invasion by India is now unthinkable.

But a friendly Afghani government is not unreasonable by any means.

And i believe there are only political solutions, not military ones.

[Khirad]

Good analysis. I do believe there have been purges and that the brass recognizes the situation is over to be so cavalierly playing with fire. Not to say that all covert support has been severed altogether, of course, with groups operating in Afghanistan and Kashmir.

Also to watch out for is if India plays for the Tajiks, Hazaras, and Uzbeks as Pakistan does with its Pashtun patronage. That's just my idle speculation of possible scenarios, and pretty out there, I admit.

I am wary, though this is a tangent - and I just wanted to get it out somewhere, of the pattern the army and ISI have played in undermining PPP governments in the past.

[arvay]

The Pakistanis have routinely run rings around us in defending the interests of -- Pakistan.

For a change, the American rubes need to correctly analyze what motivates Pakistan and align our policies with that if we expect cooperation . That includes telling the Indians that we won't support their efforts to keep Afghanistan run by pro-Indian forces.

Franky, we can get help from China here, making it clear to India that they need to settle the Kashmir issue and get on with their nation's business. The Pakistan-China alliance trumps any of India's hopes in Afghanistan, and the Chinese can create enough instability on India's northern border to make that clear.

[Durango]

Would Durrani really be the best person to put in charge?

Not that I know much about the internal workings of the Pakistani military or ISI. But wasn't he in charge when many of the problems is: the Taliban, were created?

IF the Pakistani military is serious about their offensive against the militants, and i believe they are, I expect they will have success because they funded and armed, if not outright created, the enemy they will be fighting.

[S1m0n]

"President Musharraf may have much to gain by seeming that he does not control ISI."

And Durrani had something to gain by seeming that Musharef does control ISI.

The ISI also has much to gain by seeming either of these, as the occasion and context demands. All three players gain freedom to operate by maintaining careful ambiguity on this question.

[Durango]

Without a doubt.

Musharrif the military and ISI played Bush/Cheney like a fiddle,. Supporting the Taliban before and after 9/11/01.

But the question is: Do they now realize they have created a monster. And will they go after that monster.

i believe they do and will. I also believe this is part of overall American strategy. Without destruction of the Taliban in Pakistan, the fight in Afghanistan cannot be successful. For obvious reasons this strategy is not being discussed publicly by a President who always plays his cards close to his vest.

Personally I don't think there is a military solution. Only political solutions.

But either way the Pakistanis need to take the initiative against their home grown Taliban.