Director General of Pakistan's spy agency, Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), Lt Gen Faiz Hameed Saturday visited Kabul to meet with the Taliban and discuss matters related to safe evacuation of foreign nationals, border management and security in the region, The News reported Saturday. However, the Indian news agency ANI claimed that the ISI Chief visits Kabul to ensure that Haqqani and now Baradar lead the new govt.

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Director General of Pakistan's spy agency, Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), Lt Gen Faiz Hameed Saturday visited Kabul to meet with the Taliban representatives and discuss matters related to safe evacuation of foreign nationals, border management and security in the region, The News reported Saturday.

According to informed sources, the ISI chief discussed matters with the Taliban related to the issue of pending requests from countries and international organizations for repatriation/transit through Pakistan.

Pakistan media said that the ISI chief visited Kabul at the invitation of Taiban.

Baradar or Haqqani

However, the Indian news agency ANI claimed that the ISI Chief visits Kabul to ensure that Haqqani and now Baradar lead the new Afghan government.

The ANI quoted Mariam Solaimankhil, former Director of International Relation Coordination at Administrative Office of former President Ashraf Ghani, as saying that Pakistan intelligence chief Lt Gen Faiz Hameed had arrived in Kabul to make sure that Abdul Ghani Baradar does not lead the new Afghanistan government.

"From what I am hearing DG of ISI has come into Kabul to make sure Baradar doesn't lead this government and Haqqani does," said Mariam Solaimankhil.

She also said that there were a lot of disagreements amongst the Taliban factions and the Taliban cofounder Mullah Baradar. "There are a lot of disagreements amongst the Taliban factions and Baradar has called all his men off of attacking Panjshir," tweeted Solaimankhil, according to ANI.

CIA Director held secret meeting with Baradar

Tellingly, contrary to the ISI Chief's visit the CIA Director William Burns held secret meeting in Kabul with Taliban leader Abdul Ghani Baradar on August 23.

CIA Director William J. Burns held a secret meeting Monday (August 23) in Kabul with the Taliban's de facto leader, Abdul Ghani Baradar, in the highest-level face-to-face encounter between the Taliban and the Biden administration since the militants seized the Afghan capital, Washington Post reported on August 24.

For Baradar, playing the role of counterpart to a CIA director comes with a tinge of irony 11 years after the spy agency arrested him in a joint CIA-Pakistani operation that put him in prison for eight years, the Washington Post report said adding: The Taliban leader, however, is no stranger to Westerners.

After his release from prison in 2018, he served as the Taliban's chief negotiator in peace talks with the United States in Qatar that resulted in an agreement with the Trump administration on the withdrawal of U.S. forces.

Indian Foreign Secretary

Both India and the US are closely watching Pakistan's actions in Afghanistan, Tribune India quoted Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla as saying.

"Obviously, like us, they're (the US) also watching carefully. We have to watch Pakistan's actions with a fine tooth comb," Shringla said on Saturday at the end of his visit to Washington.

Foreign Secretary Harsh V Shringla was quoted Friday by Jargen News Media as saying that Pakistan has "supported and nurtured" the Taliban that replaced the elected government.

Shringla said, "Pakistan is a neighbor of Afghanistan, they have supported and nurtured the Taliban. There are various elements that are supported by Pakistan -- so its role has to be seen in that context."

Experts believe that Pakistan has been a key player in removing the elected Afghan government from power and establishing the Taliban as a decisive power in Afghanistan, according to Jagran.

Taliban surrounds Panjshir Valley as resistance holds

Meanwhile, fighting was reported on Saturday between the Taliban and anti-Taliban forces in Afghanistan's Panjshir Valley, the last region of the country holding out against the Taliban.

A spokesman for the National Resistance Front (NRF) of Afghanistan, which groups opposition forces loyal to local leader Ahmad Massoud, said Taliban forces reached the Darband heights on the border between Kapisa province and Panjshir but were pushed back.

A Taliban source said fighting was continuing in Panjshir but the advance had been slowed by landmines placed on the road to the capital Bazarak and the provincial governor's compound. "Demining and offensives are both going on at the same time," the source said.

The Taliban appears determined to snuff out the Panjshir resistance before announcing who will lead the country in the aftermath of U.S. troop withdrawal, which was supposed to end two decades of war, Al Jazeera said.

But Panjshir, which held out for nearly a decade against the Soviet Union's occupation and also the Taliban's first rule from 1996 to 2001, is stubbornly holding out.

Fighters from the NRF - made up of anti-Taliban militia and former Afghan security forces - are understood to have stockpiled a significant armory in the valley, 80km (50 miles) north of Kabul and guarded by a narrow gorge.

In Panjshir, former Vice-President Amrullah Saleh, holed out alongside Ahmad Massoud - the son of anti-Taliban commander Ahmad Shah Massoud - admitted the perilous position of the resistance forces.

"The situation is difficult, we have been under invasion," Saleh said in a video message. "The resistance is continuing and will continue."

Taliban and resistance tweets suggested the key district of Paryan had changed hands several times in the last few days, but that also could not be independently verified, Al Jazeera reported.

Authors Bio:

Author and journalist.
Author of
Islamic Pakistan: Illusions & Reality;
Islam in the Post-Cold War Era;
Islam & Modernism;
Islam & Muslims in the Post-9/11 America.
American Muslims in Politics.
Islam in the 21st Century: Challanges, conspiracies & Chaos
Muslim Word in the New Global Order
Currently working as free lance journalist.
Executive Editor of American Muslim Perspective: www.amperspective.com