• Former ISI chief claims it was his own countrymen, not Pakistan, that handed Afghan envoy Mullah Zaeef over to the Americans
• Retired Gen Ehsanul Haq says Zaeef insisted on remaining in Islamabad, despite warnings from Pakistani officials
ISLAMABAD: Over 20 years after his now-infamous handover to American forces following their invasion of Afghanistan, a former Pakistani spymaster has claimed that it was his own countrymen, and not Pakistan, that handed over former Taliban ambassador Abdus Salam Zaeef to the US.
The claim, which comes in the midst of an escalating fracas with a resurgent Taliban in Kabul, was made by retired Gen Ehsanul Haq, who took over the reins of Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) following the September 11, 2001 attacks.
For years, it was believed that Zaeef — who was the Afghan Taliban regime’s envoy to Islamabad at the time of the 9/11 attacks — was handed over to the Americans in violation of international law.
In his book, My Life With The Taliban, the former envoy had asserted that he was given into US custody in Peshawar, and this account has never been publicly challenged by any Pakistani official.
However, when asked about Zaeef’s claims during a recent seminar, the former four-star general recounted how the previous Taliban regime came to be ‘de-recognised’, and how Pakistani officials tried for months to convince the envoy to leave Islamabad to avoid the situation he later faced.
Zaeef spent just under four years as a captive in the infamous US detention centre at Guantanamo Bay, and was eventually released in 2005.
When approached for comment, Zaeef said he rejected the former general’s statement.
In his remarks at a recent seminar on Pakistan and Afghanistan relations — organised by the Khyber Margalla Foundation, an Islamabad-based organisation of government servants, retired officials and professionals from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa — Gen Haq recalled that Zaeef was told that he should leave Islamabad. If he did not accept, he would be taken to Torkham and deported, the former general said.
“When he was being flown in a helicopter, our people again told him that if you agree, we will drop you somewhere else rather than taking you to the border for deportation.”
“Ultimately, he was taken to the Torkham border and asked to cross over. No one in Pakistan handed him over to the US. When he crossed… Afghan authorities arrested and handed him over to American forces. Then he was transferred to Guantanamo. Pakistan has not done it,” the ex-ISI chief said.
Although Pakistan had recognised the Taliban regime and accepted Zaeef as Kabul’s ambassador, the recognition was withdrawn in the wake of 9/11.
The former spy chief — who has also served as the head of Military Intelligence and retired as Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee — recalled that despite the breakdown of ties, Zaeef continued to reside in the ambassador’s official residence, where the foreign media would remain camped out.
He also recounted how Taliban leaders started leaving Afghanistan after the US began bombing Kabul in October 2001. They had plans to form a government-in-exile in Pakistan, with Zaeef as its head, he said.
“A decision was made to ask Mullah Zaeef to leave Pakistan. There were five million Afghans living in Pakistan that time and we did not hand over any Afghan to the US,” he said.
Gen Haq said Pakistani officials had advised Zaeef to move to a refugee camp, or any other place, to live as a common Afghan and stop what he was doing. “This message was conveyed to him through the foreign ministry and other relevant govt functionaries.” However, the former ISI chief said, the erstwhile envoy refused to leave Islamabad.
“Our people would keep on asking him for months to shift from Islamabad. Other countries would also lodge protests that there are UN resolutions and Pakistan had de-recognised the Afghan govt [but he is still] he is sitting in Islamabad,” he recalled.
Published in Dawn, October 28th, 2025