AFGHANISTAN

Globalresearch: The Getaway
Article published in THE NEW YORKER 21.02.2002

Washington Behind Indo-Pakistan Conflict: How American Special Forces organised the evacuation of Al Qaeda and Pakistan ISI Forces to Kashmir.
In interviews, however, American intelligence officials and high-ranking military officers said that Pakistanis were indeed flown to safety, in a series of nighttime airlifts that were approved by the Bush Administration. The Americans also said that what was supposed to be a limited evacuation apparently slipped out of control, and, as an unintended consequence, an unknown number of Taliban and Al Qaeda fighters managed to join in the exodus.the Administration ordered the United States Central Command to set up a special air corridor to help insure the safety of the Pakistani rescue flights from Kunduz to the northwest corner of Pakistan... [According to] an Indian assessment, thirtythree hundred prisoners surrendered... A few hundred Taliban were also turned over to other tribal leaders... That left between four and five thousand men unaccounted for. "Where are the balance?" ... None of the American intelligence officials I spoke with were able to say with certainty how many Taliban and Al Qaeda fighters were flown to safety, or may have escaped from Kunduz by other means. India, wary of antagonizing the Bush Administration, chose not to denounce the airlift at the time....Diplomatic notes protesting the airlift were sent to Britain and the United States. Neither responded... Indian intelligence was convinced that many of the airlifted fighters would soon be infiltrated into Kashmir. There was a precedent for this... Our reading is that the fighters can go only to Kashmir."