Afghanistan through the lens of Amrullah Saleh
- Arpit Shah
- Jul 31, 2021
- 10 min read
Updated: Mar 27
SECTION HYPERLINKS
BACKGROUND
If you would have asked me a month ago What are your views on Afghanistan?, I'd have only responded as Another nuisance-creating country besides my oh-so special neighbor (I am an Indian).
After all, I would have been hard-pressed to think of anything good that has ever come out of that hostile territory (apart from the delicious dry fruits which I savor in my ice-cream). Perhaps, it was the years of Terrorism-themed developments emanating from this perennial Conflict Zone that had led to the formation of this metaphorical Dust Ball (Tumbleweed) in my mind.
Therefore, when I was watching Pakistan's Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi struggling to respond to a sharp Afghan journalist during an interview, I was taken aback. Lotfullah Najafizada, unlike his Pakistani counterparts, was articulate and came very well prepared (he'd actually give many an Indian primetime journalists a run for their money in my opinion).
However, it was not until a few days later when I stumbled upon Stephen Sackur's BBC HARDtalk interview with Amrullah Saleh, the impressive first Vice President of Afghanistan, that I realized that my perception of his country may need some course-correction.
So, after feasting on more online content related to this ever-so-striking individual, today my compass has switched directions. And how! So much so that I have created an compilation of excerpts from his English speeches and interviews which you can access at the end of this post or from this YouTube link.
Note: This post is a departure from the usual Mapping & Operations-themed content I post on this professional website. My personal admiration for this charismatic Afghan personality notwithstanding, I believe Amrullah Saleh's story and his views and concerns about his beloved country and the geopolitics affecting the region needs to reverberate, especially considering Afghanistan's current plight in the wake of impending complete US troops withdrawal from the country and the Taliban re-gaining notoriety every passing day.
SALEH'S JOURNEY THUS FAR
Amrullah Saleh has had quite a remarkable life journey thus far. With roots in destitution but being well-built regardless, he narrowly avoided being conscripted into the Soviet-backed Afghan army.
Instead, Saleh joined and trained with rebel groups and rose to prominence in an intelligence-based role with one such group - the Northern Alliance - which, led by its revered military commander Ahmad Shah Massoud, fiercely opposed the Taliban movement and its extremist Islamic ideology.
Following the withdrawal of the Soviets, Saleh mainstreamed into the Afghan Government, and soon enough, his prolific work propelled him to head the National Directorate of Security - the domestic and foreign Intelligence agency of the country at the age of 32!. Besides being a top spymaster, his remarkable clarity of thought and the ability to communicate effectively endeared him to intelligence agencies and governments the world over.
Resenting the then-Afghan President Hamid Karzai's overtures to appease the Taliban, Saleh protested publicly and submitted his resignation thrice. USA, the installer of the dummy national government, intervened twice only to reluctantly relent the third time.
A principled nationalist that he was, he proceeded to create a grass-root movement - Afghanistan Green Trend - to propound his beliefs regarding democracy and reform in order to counter the Taliban.
If what others speak of you matters, then this glowing tribute by Saleh's colleague in the Afghan Government, the then-National Security Advisor Rangin Spanta, is a testament to his prowess-
“With Amrullah Saleh, the Afghan people have lost a huge treasure of commitment, awareness and experience in this struggle against terrorism, Al Qaeda and the ISI. I can’t think of anyone who will be able to even slightly fill the vacuum that he leaves behind. Besides being a highly efficient chief at the N.D.S., he is a man of knowledge and research with an incredible memory and intellect. When he analyzed issues at international meetings, he exhibited tremendous ability at logical reasoning. He was head and shoulder above others. ... I had many differences in arguments with him, but I always saw his presence at the N.D.S. as a huge advantage to this country and this government. Despite my high respects for the president’s decisions, I am extremely mournful about Saleh’s departure. Extremely mournful."
Saleh was able to resolve his differences with the next Afghan president Ashraf Ghani and resumed his ties with the Government of the day, going on to serve in senior positions such as that of the Interior Minister. During the short stint, he made considerable progress in reducing crime rates and corruption in urban centres of Afghanistan.
Subsequently, Saleh decided to contest elections as part of Ghani's team and became the first Vice President of Afghanistan in February 2020, the office which he continues to serve till the time of writing this post.
HIS IDEALS
While disguise is a top trait of spies, this sincere tribute (refer Video 1) from a keen disciple to his martyred master is quite telling about Saleh's character and motivations.
Two aspects from the tribute struck me in particular-
thirst for intelligence and good information
negotiating selflessly for the cause
A strong sense of nationalism and democratic values, and a principled stance against the Taliban have been steady partners in Amrullah Saleh's career thus far.
From resisting the Afghan Government to becoming one of its leading voices, Saleh's journey has been noteworthy and he continues to espouse the cause of the ethnically-diverse Afghan community the world over.
HIS EXPLOITS
By virtue of being an astute Intelligence professional operating in a vicious terrain, Saleh's exploits scream location-savvy. Sharing two of the most remarkable of them-
1. Pinpointing the whereabouts of Osama bin Laden
This was, as would be validated much later, Saleh's claim-to-fame moment. As the Head of National Directorate of Security (N.D.S.) - the Domestic and Foreign Intelligence Agency of Afghanistan, Saleh expanded the reach of his informants and was convinced by as early as 2005 (unheeded by the CIA of course) that-
bin Laden was not present in Afghanistan contrary to what was widely believed
he even triangulated bin Laden's whereabouts to Mansehra, Pakistan - just 15 miles from Abbottabad where he was found residing six years later!
Not only Osama bin Laden, Saleh had also shared intelligence inputs regarding the whereabouts of Ayman al-Zawahiri, another key orchestrator of the September 2001 attacks (traced and neutralized much later in 2022), and other key members of the Taliban leadership with the CIA as well.
Saleh had trained with the anti-Afghanistan Government military resistance group (Mujahideens) in Peshawar, Pakistan as a young adult and, I suppose, this experience of the local terrain and the developed connections during that time helped him gather quality intelligence inputs.
Saleh continues to insist that the top brass of Taliban, unlike its foot soldiers, do not operate from remote mountain caves in Afghanistan or from the permeable tribal areas around the Afghanistan-Pakistan border (FATA). Rather, they lead luxurious lives in settled areas/cities of Pakistan.
2. Escaping a brutal assassination attempt in 2019
Saleh's success in negating the Taliban and the local Crime Lords made him a legitimate target for criminal networks, terrorist outfits and their masters - Pakistan's military and intelligence establishment - Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), of whom he is a very vocal critic of as they have continued to use Afghanistan as an instrument of Strategic Depth in their conflict with India.
It would therefore, come as no surprise to you to know that Saleh has been subject to several assassination attempts, each more cunningly devised than the preceding one. That he has escaped unscathed so far can be attributed to preparation, agility, and a charmed existence (read: The Nine Lives of Amrullah Saleh).
These were particularly useful on 28th July 2019 when six Suicide Bombers laid siege on Saleh's office. The attack was meticulously planned - it took the terrorists six minutes to reach Saleh - from entering the fortified street in a bomb-rigged vehicle to launching a fierce assault on the heavily-guarded office building and reaching Saleh's fourth floor office. One can only imagine the fortitude that Saleh would have had to conjure - from being in a state of daze to regaining composure and devising a rapid risk response.
It so happened that Saleh had pre-empted such an eventuality and designed the office layout to allow him private access to the building's roof where he had hid a large cache of weapons. Together with his inner security entourage, he set up a retaliatory position when the terrorists came knocking. An intense hour-long battle ensued following which they managed to jump off to the neighboring building and continued to fight till additional help arrived, which allowed Saleh to escape.
The entire ordeal lasted six hours and more than twenty people were killed. In Video 2, Saleh recounts the details of the harrowing incident while taking a journalist on a tour of the destroyed site - the narration is in Pashto language. A curtailed video with English subtitles can be found here and a New York Times interview on this topic can be read here - An Afghan Candidate Wrote His Will, Then Survived a Suicide Squad.
There are other episodes involving Saleh that are highly gripping. Consider these two-
Incident 1: An act of incredulity in the immediate aftermath of the July 2019 assassination attempt (The New York Times)-
Incident 2: Identifying an impostor claiming to represent Taliban commander Mullah Mansour (Wikipedia) -
HIS VIEWS AND VISION FOR HIS HOMELAND
Due to substantive work at the grass-roots, deep involvement in intelligence affairs, and a strong sense of nationalism to boot, the voice of Amrullah Saleh carries considerable weight and should be a guiding light for those who want to understand the geopolitics involving and surrounding Afghanistan and its people who have been subject to one invasion after another over the last four decades.
So what are Saleh's beliefs, views and vision for his beloved country?
While I have summarized what I've gathered in the subsequent paragraph, I'd highly recommend that you choose to hear from the man himself in this video excerpts compilation I've made from his English speeches and interviews. You will be amazed to see how accurate his assessments were, given Afghanistan's current predicament-
Here are 5 common themes that I've observed from Saleh's publicly-aired footage-
A pluralistic society is the only solution for long-lasting peace in Afghanistan. Saleh maintains that negotiating a deal with the Taliban is unwise. Rather than seeking appeasement, the Taliban should choose to integrate with the society and live by its democratic values. They must not be given any leeway whatsoever to impose their beliefs on the citizens of Afghanistan
While the USA/NATO armed forces are intending to leave Afghanistan because of war fatigue as well as shifting national interests (China), however, their mission to secure Afghanistan's transition into a stable, democratic future is still not fulfilled. Complete troop withdrawal is likely to descend Afghanistan to pre-2000 civil strife. Saleh warns that a short period of ceasefire should not be misconstrued as a sign of everlasting peace as the Taliban, at their core, remain an extremist ideological organization and will continue to spread fear and violence whenever they see a window of opportunity. That being said, Saleh is confident that the Afghans will continue to resist and will prevail eventually as they are much better equipped to deal with Taliban's threat now, drawing from the learnings from their previous experience under the rule of the very same oppressive clerical dictatorship.
Pakistan's military establishment's (ISI) continued support of the Taliban is the root-cause behind Afghanistan's perennial state of misery. Saleh claims that Pakistan, by virtue of being a major non-NATO ally, has escaped being brought to task for its misdeeds thus far. While it is openly known that Pakistan harbors the Taliban leadership and supports its nefarious activities, Saleh insists that this is not done by some rogue elements within the Pakistan military establishment as some believe, rather, it is the establishment's stated policy to keep Afghanistan in a constant state of turmoil to obtain strategic depth against India and to milk monetary aid from the West. Saleh reveals that the use of militant extremism acts as an outer ring of deterrence in Pakistan's quest to safeguard its nuclear assets
India is a strong regional supporter of Afghanistan's cause. Saleh indicates that India has enormous goodwill in the hearts of the Afghans as it promotes development and democratic values in the country and does not have a selfish agenda as other countries do. Moreover, India and Afghanistan share a common foe in the form of Pakistan and therefore, should collaborate on security parameters to deal with the nuisance
Afghanistan comprises a proud but an ethnically diverse group of people - a demographic reality which opportunistic countries and militant groups exploit to good effect. However, he reckons that there is not enough literature highlighting the strong national bonds of the Afghan people. The very fact that they continue to survive in such hostile conditions where anyone else would have crumbled, is a testament to the collective resilience of the citizens and the global order should acknowledge this reality as well
CLOSING REMARKS
To me, the current situation in Afghanistan represents a battle between a group of stubbornly-violent people and a group of violently-stubborn people. The latter - Amrullah Saleh and the people of Afghanistan - deserve better and I hope that they continue to thwart the actions of the misguided fundamentalists in the shape of Taliban and uphold the rule of democracy and law in the country.
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