• About Us
  • The TFT Story
  • Team
  • Write for TFT
  • Online advertisement tariff
  • Donate To Us
Friday, July 1, 2022
  • Home
  • Editorials
  • News
  • Analysis
  • Features
  • Spotlight
  • Videos
  • Citizens’ Voice
  • Lifestyle
  • Editor’s Picks
  • Good Times
  • More
    • About Us
    • Team
    • Write for TFT
    • The TFT Story
    • Donate To Us
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Editorials
  • News
  • Analysis
  • Features
  • Spotlight
  • Videos
  • Citizens’ Voice
  • Lifestyle
  • Editor’s Picks
  • Good Times
  • More
    • About Us
    • Team
    • Write for TFT
    • The TFT Story
    • Donate To Us
No Result
View All Result
No Result
View All Result
Home Features

Colonel Imam: From Kakul to Kabul

From being the 'Father of the Taliban' in the 1980s, to be being assassinated by the Taliban in 2011

Tariq Aqil by Tariq Aqil
November 10, 2021
in Features
Colonel Imam: From Kakul to Kabul
427
SHARES
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

It was the January of 2011. Deep winter in Waziristan and the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan’s (TTP) leader, Hakimullah Mehsud, rode through the snow filled valley. He rode in his Land Cruiser, his gun-toting, bloodthirsty followers trailed behind in other vehicles.

On a curving road, they parked. While getting out of their vehicles, they dragged a prisoner with them. It was Colonel Imam, the legendary spook of the Inter-Services Intelligence and a longtime friend of the Afghan Taliban as well as the TTP. He stood silent, dejected. His eyes cast downwards. He looked like a lamb being led to slaughter.

Mehsud made a short speech in which he blamed Colonel Imam for betraying the Taliban. The exact crime committed by the Colonel Imam was failing to turn Pakistan into a true Islamic state despite accepting funds from Osama Bin Laden for the task. Colonel Imam was accused of cheating those who had trusted and honoured him.

Mehsud condemned the Colonel to death. The valley reverberated with the sound of gunfire. A great friend, trainer, and benefactor of the TTP was dead.

Who Was Colonel Imam?

Before Colonel Imam went rouge, he was Brigadier Sultan Amir Tarar, a one-star rank serving officer of the Pakistan Army. The legend of Colonel Imam began during the Soviet Occupation of Afghanistan and the resultant international coalition formed to oppose the USSR.

Colonel Imam was instrumental in organizing and managing numerous covert guerilla training camps, of leading the Afghan Jihad, in the border areas of Afghanistan. He was responsible for recruiting madrassah students, and training them as foot soldiers for the Taliban and the Afghan Jihad.

Colonel Imam trained the Mujahideen, lived with them, dressed like them, behaved like them and was an ardent believer in the obscurantist religious doctrine of the Taliban. He led the Taliban to prayers and into battle. With his rag-tag army, he struck deep inside Afghanistan, right up to the Panjshir Valley. Colonel Imam battled Soviet forces, shot down gunship helicopters, and performed deeds of valor. He was so dear to the Taliban, that they accorded him with the title of Imam. He was deeply admired by them for his exploits.

From Kakul to Kabul

Colonel Sultan Amir Tarar AKA Colonel Imam passed out from Pakistan Military Academy in Kakul and then proceeded to Fort Bragg in the US, for commando training. After passing out his first posting was to the 15th Frontier Force Regiment as a second lieutenant. He again traveled to the US in 1974 where he trained with the US Special Forces. Upon graduating, he was awarded the Green Beret. He joined the Special Service Group (SSG) after returning from the US.

The army officer then became a guerilla operations specialist and also served as a member of the and an officer of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI). At one point, he also served as the Consul-General of Pakistan in Herat.

After being defeated in Afghanistan in 1989 the USSR collapsed and was broken into a dozen independent countries. US and its allies had scored their biggest victory in the Cold War against the communist bloc. In response, American President George W Bush invited Colonel Imam to visit the US. In Washington D.C. he was received with protocol reserved for foreign dignitaries. George W Bush presented him with a piece of the Berlin wall with a brass plaque. Its inscription read: “To the one who dealt the first blow”. The US President had officially admitted that Colonel Imam played a vital role in the defeat of Russian forces in Afghanistan.

The End Years

In the early 2000s it was speculated that Colonel Imam died fighting. The rumors detailed that while fighting alongside other Pakistani officers, all ideologically motivated to provide support to the Taliban under Mullah Omar. Pakistan may have refused to support the Afghan Taliban after September 11, but that did not hold back these officers. But in fact, Colonel Imam was alive and fully involved in arming the Taliban forces on the run during the ‘War on Terror’. He died in 2011.

Colonel Imam, also known as ‘Father of the Taliban’, was fully responsible for helping the US train the Afghan Mujahedeen, and simultaneously, ironically, for playing a key role in the formation of Taliban in Afghanistan. His belief was that peace in the region was only possible if the US and Mullah Omar negotiated and came to a compromise, and he wanted to be the one to arrange that. Instead he was assassinated by the very men he empowered.

Also Read:

A Wall Breached: Civil Religion’s Battle With A Resurgent Political Theocracy

Sports | Eoin Morgan – The Man Behind England Cricket Team’s Revival

Tags: War in Afghanistanpakistan armymilitantsPoliticsmujahidTTPKakulAfghanistanPMAConflictUSSRtalibanSSGKabulMujahideenWar on TerrorColonel ImamUSBrigadierSovietPak Faujmilitancy
Previous Post

Feeling Of Deprivation Shapes Thinking Of Balochistan Youth: Study

Next Post

Balochistan’s New All-Male Cabinet Paints A Dreary Photo Of The Province

Tariq Aqil

Tariq Aqil

Next Post
Balochistan’s New All-Male Cabinet Paints A Dreary Photo Of The Province

Balochistan's New All-Male Cabinet Paints A Dreary Photo Of The Province

Search

No Result
View All Result

Recent News

HBL Hosts The Second Regional Agricultural Coordination Committee Meeting

HBL Hosts The Second Regional Agricultural Coordination Committee Meeting

July 1, 2022
Microsoft For Startups MEA Celebrates Graduation Of Second Cohort Of GrowthX Accelerator Program

Microsoft For Startups MEA Celebrates Graduation Of Second Cohort Of GrowthX Accelerator Program

July 1, 2022
Former IG Sends Legal Notice To Rao Anwar Over ‘False Allegations’

Former IG Sends Legal Notice To Rao Anwar Over ‘False Allegations’

July 1, 2022

Twitter

Donate Us

Subscribe
The Friday Times – Naya Daur

News and views which are not fit to print.


The Friday Times is Pakistan’s first independent weekly, founded in 1989. In 2021, the publication went into collaboration with digital news platform Naya Daur Media to publish under a daily cycle.


Social Media

Latest News

  • All
  • News
  • Editorials
  • Features
  • Analysis
  • Lifestyle
HBL Hosts The Second Regional Agricultural Coordination Committee Meeting

HBL Hosts The Second Regional Agricultural Coordination Committee Meeting

by News Desk
July 1, 2022
0

Press Release HBL as a designated champion bank...

Microsoft For Startups MEA Celebrates Graduation Of Second Cohort Of GrowthX Accelerator Program

Microsoft For Startups MEA Celebrates Graduation Of Second Cohort Of GrowthX Accelerator Program

by News Desk
July 1, 2022
0

Press Release LAHORE, 30th June 2022: Microsoft for...

Follow Us on Instagram

Follow

    The Instagram Access Token is expired, Go to the Customizer > JNews : Social, Like & View > Instagram Feed Setting, to refresh it.
  • About Us
  • The TFT Story
  • Team
  • Write for TFT
  • Online advertisement tariff
  • Donate To Us

© 2022 All Rights Reserved.

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Editorials
  • News
  • Analysis
  • Features
  • Spotlight
  • Videos
  • Citizens’ Voice
  • Lifestyle
  • Editor’s Picks
  • Good Times
  • More
    • About Us
    • Team
    • Write for TFT
    • The TFT Story
    • Donate To Us

© 2022 All Rights Reserved.

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In

Add New Playlist