In the Graveyard of Empires: America's War in Afghanistan

Afghanistan Compact (New York: Council on Foreign Relations, 2006), p. 24.

31. Author interviews with three U.S. soldiers from 7th Group Special Forces, Washington, DC, May 10, 2007.

32. European Union and UNAMA, Discussion of Taliban and Insurgency (Kabul: European Union and UNAMA, April 30, 2007), p. 4.

33. Pakistani officials frequently denied this assertion. As one Pakistani senator noted in testimony before Pakistan’s Senate Foreign Relations Committee: “Pakistan has arrested over 500 Taliban this year from Quetta and 400 of them have been handed over to Afghans.” Pakistan Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Pakistan-Afghanistan Relations, Report 13 (Islamabad: Pakistan Senate Foreign Relations Committee, March 2007), p. 38.

34. Amir, “Waziristan: No Man’s Land?” p. 78.

35. Author interview with White House official, Washington, DC, June 20, 2007.

36. M. Ilyas Khan, “Profile of Nek Mohammad,” Dawn (Pakistan), June 19, 2004.

37. Locals denied the existence of the last clause and argued that they did not agree to register all foreigners with the government.

38. Iqbal Khattak, “I Did Not Surrender to the Military, Said Nek Mohammad,” The Friday Times (Pakistan), April 30-May 6, 2004.

39. Ismail Khan and Dilawar Khan Wazir, “Night Raid Kills Nek, Four Other Militants,” Dawn (Pakistan), June 19, 2004.

40. See, for example, Peace Pact North Waziristan, September 5, 2006. This agreement was negotiated by a political agent from North Waziristan representing Governor N.W.F.P. Federal Government, and tribal representatives from North Waziristan, Local Mujahideen N.W.F.P., Atmanzai Tribe.

41. Pakistan Ministry of Interior, The Talibanisation Problem (Islamabad: Ministry of Interior, 2007). The document was subsequently leaked to the press. See, for example, Ismail Khan, “Talibanisation Imperils Security, NSC Warned: Immediate Action Urged,” Dawn (Pakistan), June 22, 2007.

42. U.S. Department of State, Afghanistan, Autumn 2006: A Campaign at a Crossroads (Washington, DC: Office of the Coordinator for Counterterrorism, U.S. Department of State, 2006), pp. 2–3. Unclassified document.

43. Amir, “Whose Writ Is It Anyway?” pp. 80–82.

44. Transcript of Martin Smith interview with General Pervez Musharraf, Pakistan, June 8, 2006. I received a copy of the transcript from Frontline.

45. In one public statement, for example, the Taliban argued that “the situation is augmenting and the Taliban in Waziristan are capturing hearts and minds. We see the tribes who were struggling for tens of years accepting arbitration by Taliban scholars.” Taliban Statement on Waziristan, April 13, 2006.

46. Author interviews with Pakistan government officials, Washington, DC, January 2006.

47. Lieutenant General David W. Barno, Testimony Before the Committee on Foreign Affairs, U.S. House of Representatives, February 15, 2007, p. 21.

48. Ibid.

49. Author interview with senior Indian intelligence official, April 4, 2007.

50. David C. Mulford, U.S. Ambassador to India, Afghanistan Has Made a Remarkable Transition (New Delhi: U.S. Department of State, February 2006); Amin Tarzi, “Afghanistan: Kabul’s India Ties Worry Pakistan,” Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, April 16, 2006.

51. Border Roads Organisation, Vision, Mission, Role (Delhi: Border Roads Organisation, 2006).

52. Feroz Hassan Khan, “The Durand Line: Tribal Politics and Pakistan-Afghanistan Relations,” Paper Presented at a Conference on Tribalism, U.S. Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, CA, September 2006, p. 20. As one Pakistan Senate panel concluded, India was more successful at winning Afghan hearts and minds than Pakistan. Pakistan Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Pakistan—Afghanistan Relations, Report 13, p. 9.

53. Author interview with Sayed Fazlullah Wahidi, May 20, 2008.

54. See, for example, Aly Zaman, “India’s Increased Involvement in Afghanistan and Central Asia: Implications for Pakistan,” Islamabad Policy Research Journal, vol. 3, no. 2, Summer 2003; Aimal Khan, “Historic Hostility,” The Herald (Pakistan), vol. 37, no. 4, April 2006, pp. 83–85; Khan, “The Durand Line: Tribal Politics and Pakistan-Afghanistan Relations,” p. 20.

55. Feroz Hassan Khan, “Rough Neighbors: Afghanistan and Pakistan,” Strategic Insights, vol. II, issue 1, January 2003, p. 6.

56. Author interview with Ambassador Wendy Chamberlin, August 27, 2008.

57. Abd Allah Mustawfi, Shahr-i zindigani-yi man ya tarikh-i ijtima‘i va idari-yi dawreh-yi qajariyeh [The Town of My Life or the History of Society and Administration of the Qajar Era] (Tehran: Kitabfurushi-yi Zavvab, 1964).

58. Author interview with General Dan McNeill, May 25, 2008. See, for example, John Ward Anderson, “Arms Seized in Afghanistan Sent From Iran, NATO Says,” Washington Post, September 21, 2007, p. A12; Tom Coghlan, “Iran ‘Arming Taliban with Anti-Armour Roadside Bombs,’” Daily Telegraph (London), October 4, 2007, p. 1; Robin Wright, “Iranian Arms Destined for Taliban Seized in Afghanistan, Officials Say,” Washington Post, September 16, 2007, p. A19.

59. Author interviews with NATO officials: Washington, DC, June 4, 2007; Kabul, Afghanistan, September 15, 2007; Kandahar, Afghanistan, September 17, 2007.

60. Author interview with Ambassador Said Jawad, August 24, 2007.

61. Author interviews with NATO officials: Washington, DC, June 4, 2007; Kabul, Afghanistan, September 15, 2007; Kandahar, Afghanistan, September 17, 2007.

62. Author interview with Afghan Foreign Minister Rangin Dadfar Spanta, July 2006; author interview with Dr. Zalmai Rassoul, November 23, 2005.

63. Memorandum of Conversation, From L. Paul Bremer III, June 22, 2003 Meeting with Kofi Annan, Amman, Jordan.

64. Defense Intelligence Agency, “Iranian Support to the Afghan Resistance,” excerpt from unidentified study, n.d.; Defense Intelligence Agency, “Iranian Support to the Afghan Resistance,” 11 July 1985. Released by the National Security Archive.

65. Thom Shanker, “Iran May Know of Weapons for Taliban, Gates Contends,” New York Times, June 14, 2007, p. 12.

66. Bill Gertz, “China Arming Terrorists,” Washington Times, June 15, 2007, p. 5.

67. Author interviews with NATO officials, Kandahar, Afghanistan, September 17, 2007.

68. Steve Coll, Ghost Wars: The Secret History of the CIA, Afghanistan, and Bin Laden, from the Soviet Invasion to September 10, 2001 (New York: Penguin Press, 2004), p. 66.

69. European Union and UNAMA, Discussion of Taliban and Insurgency, p. 5.

70. On Saudi Arabia’s historical role in Afghanistan, see National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States, The 9/11 Commission Report (New York: W. W. Norton, 2004), pp. 371– 74.

71. Lord Curzon of Kedleston, Frontiers: The Romanes Lecture 1907 (Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1976), p. 7.

72. U.S. State Department, Afghanistan, Autumn 2006, p. 17. Unclassified document.

73. Eric Schmitt, Mark Mazzetti, and Carlotta Gall, “U.S. Hopes to Arm Pakistani Tribes Against Al Qa’ida,” New York Times, November 19, 2007, p. A1.

74. Author interview with White House official, Washington, DC, June 20, 2007.

75. Author interview with Western ambassador, Kabul, Afghanistan, September 13, 2007; author interview with Western ambassador, Kabul, Afghanistan, January 10, 2007.