Pakistan effectively in-charge of Afghanistan: Saleh

Kabul : Former Afghan vice president Amrullah Saleh has asserted that the Taliban are being micromanaged by Pakistan notorious intelligence agency -- the Inter-Services Intelligence, adding that Islamabad is in-charge of the war-ravaged country effectively as a colonial power.

In a piece in Daily Mail, Saleh, who has declared himself as caretaker president of Afghanistan and is now leading the Resistance Front against Taliban in Panjshir Valley, wrotrethe Taliban's spokesperson receives directions, literally every hour, from the Pakistani embassy.

'It is the Pakistanis who are in-charge as effectively a colonial power. But this is not going to last... They may have territorial control, but as our history has shown, control of land does not necessarily mean control over the people or stability,' Saleh, a vocal critic of Pakistan, said.

'For the Taliban have not won any hearts and minds.

They have simply exploited the flawed policy of a fatigued American President -- not necessarily the United States itself -- and they are being micromanaged by Pakistan's notorious intelligence agency, the ISI. The Taliban's spokesperson receives directions, literally every hour, from the Pakistani embassy,' he further writes.

Pakistan and its notorious intelligence agency have been accused of supporting the Taliban in taking over Afghanistan. "The night before Kabul fell, the police chief called me to say there was a revolt inside the prison and the Taliban inmates were attempting to escape. I had created a network of non-Taliban prisoners. I called them, and they started a counter revolt on my orders within the prison."

He said he tried contacting the then Minister of Defence Bismillah Khan Mohammadi, then-Interior Minister, and their deputies on the morning of August 15. "But I could not find them". Before leaving Kabul, Saleh went home to "destroy pictures of my wife and my daughters". "I then went through my home and destroyed pictures of my wife and my daughters.

I collected my computer and some belongings. I asked my chief guard, Rahim, to place his hand on my Koran," he said. "We are going to Panjshir and the road is already taken,' I told him. 'We will fight our way through. We will fight it together. But should I get injured, I have one request of you. Shoot me twice in my head. I don't want to surrender to the Taliban.

Ever," he wrote. "We crossed the northern pass with great difficulty because it has become a lawless territory. Thugs. Thieves. Taliban. We were attacked twice, but we survived. We fought our way with determination," he says.

"When we reached Panjshir, we got a message that the elders of the community had gathered in the mosque. I spoke to them for an hour and afterwards each of them rose in support."