WASHINGTON / NEW YORK, March 26: The Pakistan army and the ISI have had a “very ambiguous relationship” with the Taliban over the last 15 years and some within the two institutions may still support them, a US general told a senate panel on Thursday.

General Karl Eikenberry, the former commander of the US and Nato forces in Afghanistan and the Obama administration’s nominee as the next US ambassador to Kabul, however, said that Pakistan was now working with the United States and Afghanistan to defeat the militants hiding inside the country.

Eikenberry made these remarks when invited by Senator John Kerry to comment on reports published in The New York Times and Wall Street Journal on Thursday that the Pakistani intelligence agency was helping the Taliban.

“Pakistan has a very unclear and ambiguous relationship,” said the general who appeared before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Thursday for his confirmation hearing. Senator Kerry chairs the committee.

“The Pakistan army, ISI, have had a very unclear, a very ambiguous relationship with the Taliban over the last 15 years,” said General Eikenberry.

“Pakistan of course and its security forces and the ISI are the ones that facilitated the rise of the Taliban, when it first advanced into Afghanistan in the mid-1990s. And since that time, it’s been unclear if all elements of ISI have dropped their support for Taliban and their extremist allies.”

The general claimed that the deterioration of the security situation in Afghanistan was linked to “the sanctuaries that existed and do exist inside of Pakistan, with Al Qaeda and their Taliban allies”. Al Qaeda’s presence inside Pakistan fuelled the insurgency and fuelled attacks of terror inside Afghanistan, he added.

Gen Eikenberry said the ongoing discussions that the US and Afghanistan were holding with Pakistan focussed on this problem.

In early May, US, Pakistani and Afghan leaders are having another round of trilateral talks, “very importantly, those talks will include not only economics, political issues, but they will specifically include intelligence,” he said.

Gen Eikenberry said that only a “collaborative, combined, regional diplomatic approach” could help overcome this problem, particularly a combined Afghanistan-Pakistan approach.

Senator Johnny Isakson, a Georgia Republican, warned that the US had the potential for a “perfect storm” in the months ahead: a deteriorating Pakistan and the failure of Nato to provide additional help to the US in Afghanistan.

Senator Russ Feingold, a Wisconsin Democrat, claimed that Pakistan had been the home to a strengthened and reconstituted Al Qaeda for many years now. “We cannot afford to take an overly Afghan-centric approach to a much broader problem,” he warned.

“We also need to keep in mind where the insurgents, along with Al Qaeda, have found a safe haven — and obviously, as the witness knows very well, that’s Pakistan.”

Senator Jeanne Shaheen, a New Hampshire Democrat, noted that relations between India and Pakistan also had an impact on the situation in Afghanistan. “Whether it makes sense to also try and engage India … in supporting our efforts in Afghanistan and Pakistan?” she asked.

General Eikenberry said that India was making “a very positive contribution” towards Afghanistan’s development. “So given its proximity, given its own interests, but given really its capabilities and the generosity it’s shown to date, yes, they have a very important role to play,” he said.

“And does that role create any tension with Pakistan?” the senator asked.

The general said that Pakistan and India have had a very difficult relationship at times, but facilitated by the United States, “to the extent that we can, that we try” — and facilitated by other critical nations, “we find ways to have cooperative approaches made towards Afghanistan and it doesn’t become a location of competition but it becomes a location for cooperation.”
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