ISI floats new terror outfit Hizb to hit Indian assets worth USD 3 bn
Friday, 13 August 2021 | Rakesh K Singh | New Delhi
In what could further complicate the security of Indian assets in Kabul already under threat of a ramaging Taliban, Pakistani covert agency Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) has floated a new terror outfit styled as Hizb-e-Wilayat to carry out attacks exclusively on Indian assets in Afghanistan.
The outfit, headed by one Dr Anwar Firdausi, will comprise elements of the 10,000 jehadis pushed across the border by Pakistan into Afghanistan to aid the Taliban in violent takeover of the war-ravaged country from the democratically elected Abdul Ghani Government, sources privy to the development said.
The ISI move coincides with the takeover of six Afghan provinces by the Taliban in quick succession.
Besides sending the jehadis to Afghanistan, the ISI has also forged an alliance between its terror cohorts Lashkar-e-Tayabba and Jaish-e-Mohammad with the Taliban for the continuing onslaught in that country to target Indian assets.
During the last two decades, India has invested USD 3 billion in reconstruction efforts in Afghanistan after the Taliban was dislodged by the US-led forces in 2001.
The Taliban has already shot down one helicopter and captured another such machine. The helicopters were gifted by India to the Afghanistan government.
Besides the nexus between the Taliban and Pakistan Army-ISI, Islamabad’s all-weather ally Beijing has also reportedly joined forces with the UN-sanctioned terror group for supply of surface-to-air (SAM) missiles to challenge bombings by American B-52 bombers.
In addition to the latest move of launching a terror outfit to exclusively and selectively target Indian investments in Afghanistan, the ISI is feeding misinformation to maximize attacks against Indians and their assets in that country.
The ISI manoeuvres have posed threat to the Indian embassy in Afghanistan as well as those in the entire region, the sources said.
The ISI has reportedly convinced the Taliban that India had recently bombed a group of Taliban in Kandahar province of Afghanistan. The Pakistani agency has further told the Taliban that attack helicopters and military planes that were built in India were handed over to Afghan defence department some time ago. The ISI has further been able to convince the Taliban that fighter jets were stationed in Kabul airport under Indian command with Indian pilots.
“The ISI’s moves are part of its bid to cement its leverage with the Taliban to have a significant say in managing the war-ravaged country to stay geopolitically relevant and diminish India’s role in reconstruction efforts there. Simultaneously, Pakistan is also seeking to draw China in its game to supplant the Taliban at the helm of affairs in that country post completion of withdrawal of US troops early next month,” a security expert said.