And so they used him to control and influence their own militant proxy forces that Pakistan has been fostering and sponsoring for several decades now. I think one of the reasons was that they knew he was a powerful figurehead of al-Qaida of Muslim fighters around the world, and I think they wanted him on their side, a bit controlled, to use him for their own policymaking. We knew was hiding almost in plain sight in Pakistan, but when I finally learned this from an inside source - so, someone who really did know - it made sense that they were hiding him and protecting him to use him, I think, for their own reasons. On why Pakistan may have wanted to hide bin Laden We on the ground could see that the problem was coming from across the border and, over the decade, it just escalated into a huge, intractable problem that now Afghanistan still faces, of a state-sponsored insurgency from their neighboring country. But slowly the Taliban started coming back and foreign fighters also started crossing the border and attacking American troops. So what happened was they then regrouped and they then started the insurgency, which then slowly built up over the following years - because in the first years, Afghanistan was completely at peace. From that moment, the source of the problem was across the border in the Pakistani tribal areas where they were hiding mostly, and in some cities they were hiding, as we subsequently found. Taliban had fled across the border into Pakistan, and al-Qaida had too, and of course we know bin Laden also had fled into Pakistan. And then there’s China who is eager to exploit the situation to its advantage.On how the Taliban regained a foothold in Afghanistan after the 2001 American intervention pushed them out For Pakistan, they will now be the proverbial albatross around the neck. They’d have a tough time reviving the local economy or get recognition from the world community. The Taliban have no experience of governance. Having won the war from the backdoor, Pakistan may not know what to do with the victory – there are no booties of war. When most nations are fleeing Afghanistan, Pakistan is one of the three countries (along with China and Russia) whose embassies have continued to function there. When the Taliban entered Kabul, Prime Minister Imran Khan was overjoyed that they had “broken the shackles of slavery”.Īs people groomed in Pakistan are set to form the next government in Kabul, Islamabad seems to be in a winning position. However, Pakistan never cut off its ties with the Taliban, whose key figures continued to operate from its soil.

That strategy succeeded to some extent, and the US could eliminate Osama bin Laden (who had taken shelter in where-else-but Pakistan). Thus, the US needed to take Pakistan on its side to find its way to Al Qaeda, the terror group behind 9/11. In fact, the Taliban leadership was indoctrinated in seminaries in Pakistan. When the conditions were difficult in Afghanistan during the Soviet occupation and the civil war, mujahideen fighters had found shelter and moral support from this neighbor. When the US went to war in the aftermath of 9/11, it obviously had to depend on Pakistan, an ally and recipient of aid for long years. This win-win situation, however, might have ended with the war. As the war formally ends, the two warring sides will have to contend with gains and losses, but for Islamabad there were only gains.

Throughout the two-decade-long war, it was the most important ally of the US – and ditto for the Taliban too. Pakistan has played every situation to its advantage. Afghanistan has seen many victors becoming vanquished and vice versa, but there is one party that continues to remain winner in every outcome.

Pakistan real war