'US hand in glove with Taliban, using it & associated terror groups for geopolitics': Afghanistan ex-VP Amrullah Saleh

Former Vice-President of Afghanistan Amrullah Saleh, who had put up a brave fight against the Taliban after it took over Kabul in an unstoppable wave as the US wound down its presence in the war-ravaged country, has levelled serious allegations of collusion between the Taliban and American spy agency CIA.

Apart from accusing the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) of having provided the Taliban with Russian made weapons and helicopters, he tweeted accusing America of being hand in glove with the regressive and repressive Taliban regime.

“The US’s CIA has delivered two Mi-17 Russian made helicopters to the Taliban’s GDI, tail number 163 and 165 which are now parked in western section of the Kabul Airport. These two helicopters were operated by the CIA during the republic and were taken for maintenance to UAE. They are gifted to the Talibs as part of the secret annexes of the Doha deal conspiracy,” Saleh tweeted.

He questioned the Doha deal and alleged that the pact was “meant to hire the Talibs and in extension the extremist groups as instruments of geopolitics”.

The US’s @CIA has delivered two Mi-17 Russian made helicopters to the Taliban’s GDI, tail number 163 & 165 which are now parked in western section of the Kabul Airport. These two helicopters were operated by the CIA during the republic & were taken for maintenance to UAE. They…

— Amrullah Saleh (@AmrullahSaleh2) July 7, 2023

While Saleh fled Afghanistan after the fall of the Panjshir Valley failed to hold out to the Taliban, he has been critical of the US role in Afghanistan, especially Biden administration’s decision to withdraw from Afghanistan, leaving the nascent democracy in Kabul to its own means.

The former vice president of Afghanistan also alleged that decades ago, the Americans have assisted Pakistan to create Special Services Group (SSG).

"The Americans assisted Pakistan to create Special Services Group (SSG) decades ago under the same pretext. It is a high-income headache for Pakistan which it doesn’t want go away or spill into Punjab," Saleh claimed.