US catches Afghan govt 'red handed' in plotting with Pakistani Taliban

The United States has caught the Afghan government red-handed secretly conniving with the Pakistani Taliban to gain a stronger position in a regional power game.

The disrupted plan involved Afghan intelligence trying to work with the Pakistan Taliban, allies of Al Qaeda, in order to find a trump card in a regional power game, according to new accounts by officials from both countries.

According to the New York Times, tipped off to the plan, United States Special Forces raided an Afghan convoy that was escorting a senior Pakistan Taliban militant, Latif Mehsud, to Kabul for secret talks last month. Mehsud is now in custody.

Publicly, the Afghan government has described Mehsud as an insurgent peace emissary. But according to Afghan officials, the ultimate plan was to take revenge on the Pakistani military.

Aiding the Pakistan Taliban was an 'opportunity to bring peace on our terms', one senior Afghan security official said.

From the American standpoint, it has exposed a new level of futility in the war effort.

Not only has Washington failed to persuade Pakistan to stop using militants to destabilize its neighbors, but its failure also appears to have persuaded Afghanistan to try the same thing, the report said.

The Afghan officials said they now wanted Pakistan to know that Afghanistan could play dirty as well.