The Taliban have confirmed that they have access to a massive American database and have mobilised a special unit, Al Isha, to hunt down Afghans who helped the US-led NATO forces in Afghanistan, or worked with Indian intelligence, media reports suggest.
“American, NDS [Afghanistan’s National Directorate of Security] and RAW’s (India’s Research and Analysis Wing) puppets won’t be let off. They will always be watched by Al Isha,” Nawazuddin Haqqani, one of the brigade commanders of the Al Nisha unit said. In an interview with Washington-based wire service platform Zenger News, he added that the unit has the access of US’ hand-scanners and database that will help them hunt down Afghans who helped US-led NATO forces or worked with Indian intelligence.
The database falling into the Taliban hands is a massive blow to not just the US, NATO and India interests, but also doesn’t bode well for those who worked with the previous government or with the US forces as interpreters, drivers, nurses, and secretaries were scanned for the biometric database over the last 12 years.
The US started collecting data from about 300,000 Afghans in 2009. In November 2010, the biometrics centre was opened. Everyone who worked with the Afghan government or the US military—including interpreters, drivers, nurses, and secretaries—was fingerprinted and scanned for the biometric database over the past 12 years.
If Zenger News is to be believed, it is the list of these people that has fallen into the hands of the Taliban.
Nawazuddin Haqqani said, “We’re in control of the interior ministry and the national biometric database they kept. We have everyone’s data with us now—including journalists and so-called human rights people. We haven’t killed a single foreign journalist, have we? We aren’t arresting the families of these people [who are on the blacklist] either.”
He added, “But American, NDS [Afghanistan’s National Directorate of Security] and RAW’s [India’s Research and Analysis Wing] puppets won’t be let off. They will always be watched by Al Isha. Those who were barking about having US dollars in their pockets till a few days back — they won’t be spared. They can’t be spared, can they?”
When probed further, Haqqani was quick to add that Al Isha was only “keeping an eye” on these people. He added: “The matter is being blown out of proportion by the foreign media and it›s nothing more than a campaign to malign us.”
Al Isha, comprising nearly 1,100 people, is “the most lethal and sophisticated insurgent group targeting US, coalition, and Afghan forces,” according to the US National Counterterrorism Center.
Khalil Haqqani has a $5 million bounty on his head, is the brother of Jalaluddin Haqqani, who mentored Osama bin Laden and also served as a cabinet minister for the Taliban in the 1990s.
In the interview with Zenger, Haqqani did not deny the reports that Pakistani intelligence officers were supervising the Al Isha unit’s use of biometric data. “You are not that naive—you know the answer to that,” he said. “But what I can say is, it’s not necessary to train everyone in Pakistan. The Emirs (local Taliban chieftains) are quite capable of training the foot soldiers to handle the equipment.”
The news outlet also quoted an Afghan national army corps commander, who said, “The Afghan Taliban are incapable of handling the biometric equipment or the database. Every search party is overseen by a Pakistani officer or a member of the Haqqani Network.”
Taliban spokesperson Suhail Shaheen, however, declined to comment on the existence of the Al Isha, and the use of the biometric database.