The USSR invaded Afghanistan in 1979. It was a period of the cold war. To counter the influence of the USSR in Afghanistan, the USA was intervening there through the Intelligence Service ( ISI ) of Pakistan. Normally, it is believed that ISI had a hand in the birth of the Taliban.

But the political scientist and historian Hein Kiessling had given an interesting story of the origin of the Taliban.

Hein Kiessling lived in Pakistan from 1989-2002, during which he forged close contacts among Pakistan’s political, military and intelligence elite. He published a book ” The ISI of Pakistan ” on his experience.

He points out that the ISI is wrongly accused of having a hand in the birth of the Taliban. Taliban came into existence in 1994. It was Benazir Bhutto, then Prime Minister of Pakistan, in her second term, who fostered the Taliban. Taliban was principally a by-product of a business decision by her husband Asif Zardari, who wanted to import cotton from Turkmenistan over Kandhar in southern Afghanistan.

Bhutto’s interior minister Babur was responsible for the safety of the route but was unable to negotiate successfully with many dominant warlords along it. In his search for new allies, Babur came upon Mullah Omar, the Taliban’s famed one-eye commander. Armed by the Pakistani army, the Taliban defeated many of the warlords and established itself in Kandhar.

Origin of Taliban