In this document, we see two heavily-redacted pages, Pages 7 and 8, from something identified as "MORI DocID 800277", and classified SECRET / NOT FOR RELEASE TO FOREIGN NATIONALS.
(1) (S/UO) [redacted in its entirety]
(2) (S) PAKISTAN. CONSISTENT REPORTING INDICATES PAKISTAN PROVIDES BOTH MILITARY AND FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE TO THE TALIBAN. ISLAMABAD'S PRIMARY GOALS ARE TO ACHIEVE STRATEGIC DEPTH WITH REGARD TO INDIA, AND SECURING ACCESS TO CENTRAL ASIAN TRADE ROUTES. CULTURAL TIES ALSO EXIST BETWEEN THE TALIBAN LEADERSHIP AND PAKISTAN, WHERE SEVERAL TALIBAN LEADERS LIVED FOR MANY YEARS FOLLOWING THE 1979 SOVIET INVASION. PAKISTAN FEARS A COMPLETE TALIBAN VICTORY MAY INCITE IRREDENTIST ASPIRATIONS WITHIN ITS OWN PASHTUN POPULATION, AND WILL LIKELY ATTEMPT TO PRESSURE THE TALIBAN INTO MODERATING SOME OF ITS POLICIES.
Like in Part 21, we see right away in a nutshell what is happening and why.
(3) (C) RUSSIA. [redacted] RUSSIA IS CONCERNED ABOUT THE SPILLOVER OF ISLAMIC MILITANCY INTO CENTRAL ASIA AND VIEWS THE TALIBAN AS A SIGNIFICANT THREAT. MOSCOW DEFINES ITS NEAR-ABROAD BORDERS AS THOSE OF ITS FORMER CENTRAL ASIAN REPUBLICS, AND HAS PLEDGED TO USE MILITARY FORCE SHOULD THE TALIBAN PUSH INTO NORTHERN AFGHANISTAN.
And well Russia should have been concerned about this.
America has for decades seemed to have a focus on Iran, and with our focus on Iran, a Shia Muslim state that has a reputation for promoting extremism, we may miss the real threat here, and that is extremism in the Sunni world, promoted and funded by Saudi petrodollars.
Most of the peoples along Russia's southern border are Turkic, not Persian, and Sunni, not Shia - Iran is only going to be so much of a threat to Russian interests.
But, just as Saudi Arabia and Pakistan together gained a foothold among the various factions in Afghanistan, so might they gain a foothold farther north. In fact, in the wake of the jihad against the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan, it is perhaps surprising that it was Tajikistan that dissolved into a civil war - demographically, it should have been the other four Central Asian republics of the former Soviet Union.
This concern was certainly not lost on Moscow, where Pakistan's desire to establish Islamic Republics throughout Central Asia surely seemed an even greater threat than the mere Cold War hostility of the United States in the 1980's.
(4) (S/UO) TURKMENISTAN. TURKMENISTAN IS TOO POOR TO SUPPORT ANY AFGHAN FACTION WITH MORE THAN ELECTRICITY OR FUEL.[redacted]
(5) (C) UZBEKISTAN. UZBEKISTAN PROVIDES ASSISTANCE TO ITS FELLOW ETHNIC UZBEKS UNDER THE COMMAND OF JUBESH LEADER GENERAL DOSTAM. [redacted]
(6) (S/UO) TAJIKISTAN. THE TAJIK GOVERNMENT RECENTLY BEGAN SENDING SUPPLIES AND AMMUNITION TO THE JAMIAT MILITIA. [redacted]
(7) (S/UO) INDIA. REPORTS INDICATE INDIA IS SUPPLYING WEAPONS AND OTHER UNSPECIFIED AID TO ANTI-TALIBAN FORCES. [redacted]
Everyone began siding with some anti-Taliban faction - except the Pakistanis, whose support for the Taliban was looking like it was going to pay some big dividends.
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