Sept 10, 2021: In the wake of the 9/11 terrorist attacks on US soil, Pakistan had suggested UN intervention in conflict-ridden Afghanistan instead of military intervention to save the region from further chaos, General (retd) Ehsanul Haq, former ISI chief said in an interview.

Gen (retd) Ehsan became director general of Pakistan’s premier intelligence agency, Inter-Services Intelligence, in October 2001 after the September 11 bombings of the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon in Washington.

“We have suggested to the US administration at the highest level – the president, the foreign secretary, the director of the CIA and other US leaders – that there should be a UN intervention in Afghanistan,” Ehsan told Arab News in an interview which was published on its website on Thursday.

Talking about the joint visit he made with Prince Saud Al Faisal to Washington, he said that this was a joint initiative of Pakistan and Saudi Arabia. He handed over a four-page letter from then Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf to then US President George W. Bush.

The letter proposed a new initiative to resolve the Afghan conflict with the Taliban, with a focus on co-operating in the fight against al-Qaeda and negotiating with the Taliban. “The United States could have avoided a long and costly war in Afghanistan if it had followed the advice of Pakistani and Saudi officials,” Ehsan said.

Twenty years later, he added, the move was a missed opportunity for the Americans to save them and the Afghan people from so much blood letting.

The former top Pakistan spy thought the war could have been averted first. If the United States had followed the recommendations made by Pakistan and Saudi Arabia after 9/11, the conflict would have been much smaller.

Gen (retd) Ehsan said Pakistan and Saudi Arabia had “sincerely” advised the Americans that there was no military solution to the situation in Afghanistan and that a political solution was available with the cooperation of the United Nations.

“Pakistan called for a broad-based consensus government under the auspices of the United Nations in Afghanistan so that the conflict does not escalate and intensify. But unfortunately our sincere and best efforts were not heeded and the result was a conflict that stretched for 20 years.”

“The United States contacted for almost 24 to 36 hours after 9/11. Pakistan had already condemned what had happened and we had already decided that we would stand with the international community and our answer will be in accordance with UN Security Council resolutions.”

Looking to the future, Ehsan said that Pakistan would gain “strategically” from the Taliban’s return to power because the change of rulers in Kabul would stop India from using the Afghan soil to “destabilise” Pakistan. “We see an end to Afghan elements inimical to Pakistan,” he added.

As for US-Pakistan relations, Ehsan said it needed to be improved more than ever, because we need the United States to get rid of the mess and stabilize Afghanistan.

He urged the Biden administration to recognize the Taliban and work with them for the sake of the Afghan people. “If you put the Taliban government or any other government in Afghanistan on the UN list of terrorists and sanctions, Afghanistan will not have the support of international organizations,” the former ISI chief said. “And it will affect the attitude of the Taliban government, which in itself will create problems.”

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