Taliban spy chief mulls next step

"The biggest investor in Afghanistan was Osama bin Laden. He was bringing ammunition and weapons and everything, and that's why they were in power, because they were financially supporting the Taliban," Haneefee says, stroking his long black beard. "You can compare Mullah Omar and Osama. They were fighting shoulder to shoulder. They were equals."

He also says that intelligence agents with Pakistan's Interservices Intelligence agency (ISI) continued to support the Taliban, even after the government of Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf promised to break all ties with the Taliban. "Anywhere in the world, if government policy changes, the intelligence agency policy stays the same, because they have invested too much in their people," he says.

This reporter first met Haneefee at a dingy Peshawar hotel, as part of a plan to visit Taliban-controlled areas of Afghanistan. The trip would be very dangerous, he said, but Haneefee would take care of security and protect his charge both from other Taliban fighters and from the civilian population who were still angered by the US bombing.

Haneefee would take this reporter to military bases, civilian homes, and introduce him to top Taliban ministers. If all went well, he could also show him Stinger missiles or even take him deeper into Afghanistan to see the hideout of Osama bin Laden. There wasn't a lot that Haneefee wouldn't do, for a price.

"Even if you want to slip in some American soldiers or American spies, this is also possible," he told the translator. "But this is not for free. This is a big job, very dangerous job."

Why would he do this against the very government he was sworn to protect. "I am in a bad financial situation," he admitted. "I need money to feed my family."

While corruption is certainly not an Afghan peculiarity, Haneefee says he was scrupulously honest for most of his career in the Taliban. As head of the electrical power station near the northern city of Mazar-e Sharif, he helped bring electricity to rural villages for the first time. Later as intelligence director, he avoided killing those he arrested, even for serious crimes. And he says the people largely supported the Taliban, because of the near-total peace in the 90 percent of Afghanistan they controlled.

Haneefee admits he might not live to see a peaceful Afghanistan, but he offers one bit of advice to the Afghan rulers and the Afghan people: "Forget the past. Make a good government and not with hard Islamic laws. And take all people and Afghan groups into the government."

Does he think the Taliban will join the next government? "No, Taliban will not take part, even if [the Northern Alliance] invite us. We are enemies."

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