MOSSAD has rendered a favor to the Taliban: Israel and the Taliban regime seem to be beginning to cooperate successfully.
Author: Andrey Serenko, head of the Center for the Study of Afghan Politics (Russia)
Finally, there is evidence that secret diplomacy between Israel and the Taliban regime is beginning to bear its first, albeit seemingly modest, fruits.
Israeli media, in particular The Jerusalem Post, published a cheerful text that allegedly the leader of the National Resistance Front of Afghanistan (NRFA), Ahmad Massoud, during his recent European meetings, announced his readiness to accept help from the Jewish state in his fight against the Taliban.
Although today official representatives of the NRFA denied the fact of such a statement by Masud Jr., the job is done: the message compromising the leader of the NRFA in the eyes of Afghan and other Muslims went for a walk across the media fields, providing rich food for various interpretations.
What conclusions can be drawn from the intrigue that has arisen?
1 - Israel is undoubtedly interested in current Afghan political issues. And, therefore, there was a basis for the insiders, at least a year ago, that representatives of the diplomatic and intelligence services of Israel began to work more actively not only in the Central Asian region, but also in Afghanistan and Pakistan. And that as a result of this work, stable channels of communication and cooperation between Israeli services and some “moderate” Taliban leaders were created.
2 - As Afghan insiders argued both then and today, Afghanistan is interesting to Israel both from the point of view of new opportunities for work on Iran, and within the framework of some kind of “research project” to identify and develop historical ties between the people of Israel and the Pashtuns - as supposedly one of the tribes of this people. By the way, as part of this project, Israeli specialists held quite intensive consultations with Pashtun politicians and national activists not only in European countries, Central Asian republics, Pakistan, but also in Russia. Taliban Afghanistan is also in the area of their scientific and “scientific” interest.
3 - Judging by the striking attempt to discredit Ahmad Massoud in the Israeli media, quite partnership relations have already developed between Israeli representatives and their counterparts in the Taliban leadership. Israeli friends provided a pleasant service to Taliban friends, helping them to bring down the unexpectedly increased political stakes of the leader of the NRFA (intensification of Massoud’s contacts in Europe, his warm welcome in Moscow, interest in the Afghan Resistance in the region). Moreover, Israel itself is not yet very interested in Masoud’s front, primarily due to Iran’s noticeable influence on the NRFA. Taliban (Pashtun) friends in this sense are now more promising for Israel.
4 - Finally, by “dumping” Massoud, Israel is also providing a service to its American allies, who have repeatedly emphasized their rejection of armed forms of struggle against the Taliban regime in Afghanistan. Since the end of September 2023, American emissaries have been conducting intensive consultations in Turkey and some other countries with various Afghan political groups, which, unlike the NRF, declare their readiness for peace negotiations with the moderate Taliban. The United States is objectively interested in strengthening the positions of such “peacekeeping” forces in the Afghan political community and, accordingly, in weakening the “hawks,” the main one in the public space being Ahmad Massoud.
In a word, it was very timely that a story about the leader of the NRFA appeared in the Israeli media. He once again emphasizes the intensification of the Afghan political process and, obviously, the approach of even more important events in it than just media provocations.
