The Pakistan Military Intelligence, particularly the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), has been the principal operational vehicle for the Afghan operation from 1979 to the present. Its role included the recruitment, training, and deployment of mujahideen fighters during the Soviet war, the management of the post-Soviet civil war in ways that favored the most religious factions, the construction and deployment of the Taliban, and continued support for Taliban factions across the entire period of the American occupation. The ISI’s activities were instrumental in shaping the trajectory of Afghan politics, ensuring that the Afghan conflict aligned with broader regional and strategic interests.
The ISI’s influence was particularly evident during the tenure of key figures such as General Zia ul-Haq, who served as President of Pakistan from 1978 to 1988 and was the principal Pakistani figure of the Afghan operation during its principal expansion phase. Under his leadership, the ISI played a central role in the Islamicization of Pakistani society and the development of the madrasa system that would later produce the Taliban. The ISI also coordinated closely with American and Saudi partners to advance the Afghan operation, ensuring that the conflict served both regional and global strategic objectives.
The ISI’s role extended beyond the Soviet war, continuing into the post-Soviet civil war and the American occupation. It managed the rise of the Taliban, supported its expansion, and ensured that the group remained aligned with Pakistan’s strategic interests. This support continued even as the Taliban became a target of international condemnation, highlighting the ISI’s role as a key architect of the Afghan conflict.
The Pakistani military and intelligence establishment has continued the operational pattern established by the original architects, with continued support for Taliban factions across the period of the American occupation and with continued involvement in shaping the conditions of contemporary Afghanistan. The Pakistani role has been substantially protected from accountability across the period because Pakistan has remained a designated American partner whose conduct has been substantially exempted from the consequences that comparable conduct by designated enemy states would have produced.
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See Also
inter-services-intelligence.md, taliban.md, us-military-industrial-complex.md, saudi-arabia.md