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The Good CIA — Avenging a Friend of America and a Cold War Hero! by Miguel A. Faria, MD
Is America a staunch friend and ally — or a nation that forgets friends when they are no longer useful?
On a graduate student International Studies website, I recently came across a lengthy debate over that same question, as well as which nation, Russia or the United States, made better friends? Perhaps not surprisingly, it was decided by both the Indian and Pakistani commenters that Russia made a better friend, citing the example of friendly Indian-USSR relations during the cold war and beyond.
As for US-Pakistani relations, the opposite had happened, relations had gone sour after the cold war. The arguable conclusion was that America abandons their friends and allies when they were no longer politically useful or when it’s no longer politically expedient to do so.
The fate of America’s anti-communist friend, Pakistani strongman General Zia, who had been assassinated under mysterious circumstances, was an example noted in the online discussion. It was even speculated that the CIA had a hand in that horrible event, when, in fact, the KGB was the likely culprit.
True, America and the CIA may not be as efficient as Israel and the Mossad, but neither does America forget her friends. I could tell the story of how the CIA did not give up the search for moles that penetrated both the CIA and the FBI in the 1980s and 1990s — traitors like Rick Ames (CIA) and Robert Hanssen (FBI), two moles who sent dozens of courageous Russian double agents to their death. I can supply references for those interested.
But given that the discussion centered on Middle Eastern and Indian politics, I submitted the story of a brave Pakistani, known as Colonel Imam, who worked as a CIA agent for America and was assassinated in the cause of freedom. And how after laborious CIA intelligence and tracking, his assassination was avenged when Colonel Imam’s assassin was obliterated, as if struck by Zeus’s thunderbolt or pierced by Apollo’s celestial arrow. This is an untold story that needs telling, even if briefly so.
Brigadier General Sultan Amir Tarar, better known as Colonel Imam (photo, left), was a former Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) officer, a loyal subject of his country Pakistan, and a staunch ally of the US during the cold war, as well as a hero of the Afghanistan Mujahideen during the 1980s and 1990s.
Always an anti-communist, a proponent and adherent of cordial relations with the US and the West, Colonel Imam was, like Ahmad Shah Massoud, the Lion of Panjshir, a courageous fighter for freedom and a friend of the US through thick and thin.
In perhaps the best piece of journalism that I have ever read, Declan Walsh, a correspondent for The Guardian, wrote a lengthy investigative story in 2011 about this mysterious but highly respected Pakistani ISI agency officer. Walsh was trying to determine if ISI was still a friend to the US or had succumbed to Islamic fundamentalism and become a cryptic enemy intelligence service. The agency’s loyalty was put in question but, not in my estimation, the career of its former agent Colonel Imam, who was in fact a Brigadier General and Pakistani diplomat.
Walsh had personally interviewed Colonel Imam at his home, and found him to be a friend of America, one of his treasured possessions being a piece of the Berlin Wall given to him by President George H.W. Bush and donated by the CIA as a memento of the cold war, a war that the colonel had helped to bring an end to in Afghanistan. And it was in Afghanistan during the 1980s that the Mujahideen, led by warriors such as Colonel Imam and Ahmad Massoud, the Lion of Panjshir, decisively defeated the Soviets militarily.
In 2011, although still working on and off as a diplomat for Pakistan, Colonel Imam remained involved as a commando-guerilla warfare specialist in the civil war in Afghanistan. In the spring of 2010, Colonel Imam along with an associate in the ISI, a journalist, and their driver were kidnapped by Hakimullah Mehsud (c. 1979−2013), an emir of the militant Taliban of Pakistan and former deputy commander to the elder Baitullah Mehsud. Both Mehsuds were militant leaders of the Islamic group, the Fedayeen al-Islam.
Colonel Imam’s ISI associate was summarily executed, but the Colonel was kept in custody for months, and finally executed in January 2011. His assassins released a horrific video of his execution, which I viewed shortly after reading Walsh’s article. The graphic video has since been edited, but its sanitized version is still available. It showed the Colonel being shot while refusing to sit down, standing tall and defiant. When the Colonel was shot again, he fell but then tried to stand up. When shot what seemed to be the third time, his body remained still. It should be stated that the Afghan Taliban, which included former Mujahideen members, opposed his execution.
America did not forget Colonel Imam. The elder Baitullah Mehsud had already been killed in a 2009 drone attack. Terrorists lost 39 “holy warriors” in that attack. In retaliation for the death of Colonel Imam, the CIA hunted down the younger Hakimullah Mehsud quietly, presumably using both HUMINT and SIGNIT sources. In 2013, Mehsud paid the price and, like the elder Baitullah Mehsud, was blown into oblivion during a CIA drone strike in November 2013.
In 2014, the BBC reported that Asmatullah Shaheen, who had followed the younger Mehsud as head of the Pakistani Taliban, was ambushed, shot and killed, as he drove through a village near Miranshah in North Waziristan in Pakistan. Three aides in the vehicle also died. The BBC further commented, “Since then, there have been a series of attacks in which unidentified gunmen have targeted militants in the tribal areas, puzzling observers about who could be behind them…” Here we can only speculate.
But let’s end with the fact that, regardless of where the enemy might try to hide, America and the CIA, when properly led, possess a very long memory, won’t forget their friends, and will avenge them.
Written by Dr. Miguel Faria
Miguel A. Faria, M.D., is Associate Editor in Chief in socioeconomics, politics, medicine, and world affairs of Surgical Neurology International (SNI). He is the author of Cuba in Revolution: Escape From a Lost Paradise (2002) and America, Guns, and Freedom: A Journey Into Politics and the Public Health & Gun Control Movements (2019).
This article was also posted on GOPUSA.com on December 1, 2020.
This article may be cited as: Faria MA. The Good CIA — Avenging a Friend of America and a Cold War Hero! HaciendaPublishing.com, December 3, 2020. Available from: https://haciendapublishing.com/the-good-cia-avenging-a-friend-of-america-and-a-cold-war-hero-by-miguel-a-faria-md/.
Copyright ©2020 Miguel A. Faria, Jr., M.D.
1 thought on “The Good CIA — Avenging a Friend of America and a Cold War Hero! by Miguel A. Faria, MD”
Dr. Miguel A. Faria (September 22, 2021): Ahmad Massoud, leader of the National Resistance Front of Afghanistan is the 32-year-old son of freedom fighter hero Ahmed Shah Massoud, the Tiger of the Panjshir, leader of the Northern Alliance, staunch friend of the US, for thick and thin, assassinated by Al-Quaeda and the Taliban on the eve of 9:11 so he could not help the US! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ahmad_Shah_Massoud
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Tobrknot Tobfree: What of Parthia, and Scythia, in regards Bactria, and current Afghanistan? Since [there were] two groups occupying that area during Alexander’s time, [were they] conquered by Alexander, because the history I’ve read does not say that.
Dr. Miguel Faria: A little history… Kandahar, the second largest city in Afghanistan, was a major outpost of the Achaemenid ancient Empire of Persia before taken by Alexander the Great who founded the old city of Kandahar in the 4th century BC, Alexandria of Arachosia (like Alexandria of Egypt, which was another). Many empires have fought over the city because of its strategic location at the crossroads of southern-central Asia.
Alexander the Great has been the only invader to conquer the ancient Afghans; his successor generals ruled ancient Afghanistan (Bactria) for over 100 years! There are still popular ballads sung and tales told in this area about Alexander the Great exploits, the only person to conquer them! I love historic challenges, so let me correct a few points:
TT: 1. Re. What of Parthia, and Scythia, in regards Bactria, and current Afghanistan?…
Dr. Faria: The Parthians controlled Persia from the mid-3rd century BC to mid-3rd century AD. This was more than 100 years after Alexander. They took those territories from the late Seleucid kings who were weak. At that time they also controlled or influenced part of Bactria, which is today mostly northern Afghanistan. The Scythians raided Bactria from Southern Russia, Georgia, Azerbaijan, some were assimilated in Bactria, but they never conquered Bactria. They remained raiders of the steppes of the aforementioned countries around the northern and flank areas of the Black and Caspian seas and southern Russia. What we know of the Scythians largely come from Herodotus’ Histories, which I highly recommend.
TT: 2… Re. Since [there were] two groups occupying that area during Alexander’s time, [were they] conquered by Alexander, because the history I’ve read does not say that.
Dr. Faria: Your history is incorrect. The Achaemenid Persians occupied all that area from the Aegean Sea in the West to Bactria in the east — Ionia, Turkey, Syria, Palestine, Iran, Iraq, Cyprus, Egypt, northwestern Afghanistan (later denoted Bactria). The Persian kings were the “King of Kings”! At the time of Alexander’s conquest, the king was Darius III, who Alexander defeated in every battle they fought. The Achaemenid Persian empire was founded by Cyrus the Great (606 BC-530 BC.) and was destroyed and conquered by Alexander the Great (356 BC- 323 BC) from 332 BC to 328 BC. After Alexander the Great died, his successors held all the territories conquered: Ptolemy, Egypt; Seleucus or Seleukos, Syria, Babylonia, Persia, Afghanistan. Seleucid Greeks seceded and founded independent Bactria. Thrace was taken by the general Lysimachus. Macedonia by Antigonus, etc. Most of the information on Bactria is from numismatic history. There is only one good book to my knowledge, which of course, I have read and keep in my library. There are also books on Alexander, Seleukos, etc., also about the Parthians— mostly about the wars with Rome, which in the end they always lost! If you are serious about these histories I can recommend the best books I have read and keep in my library.
Tobrknot Tobfree: Recommend away, But have yet to get to the books by 19th century historians which I have regarding Parthia and Scythia.
Dr. Miguel Faria: Here are the books you need to read for a starter, and they don’t have any major historical flaws! 1. Bactria — The History of a Forgotten Empire by HG Rawlinson (1912; republished 2013). 2. Leviathan vs Behemoth — the Roman-Parthian Wars 66 BC -AD 217 by Cam Rea (2014). 3. The rise of the Seleukid Empire 322-223 BC by John D. Grainger (2018). There is also a fascinating book about more recent history: The Man Who Would Be King: The First American in Afghanistan by Ben Macintyre , the story of an American adventurer in Afghanistan in the 19th century, who rose to be a tribal king!
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Justin Olinde: Your prediction: does Afghanistan fall to the Taliban, or does a protracted war commence, with or without the US?
Dr. Faria: the Taliban will eventually take over. They are fanatical, but the internacine tribal warfare will continue. It is the way of life in Afghanistan when they don’t have a foreign enemy.
Dr. Faria: The Northern Alliance was our friend. The Taliban/ Al qaeda assassinated its leader on the eve of 9:11, so he could not help us — Ahmad Shah Massaud, the tiger of the Panjshir! Ahmad Massoud, leader of the National Resistance Front of Afghanistan is the 32-year-old son of freedom fighter hero Ahmed Shah Massoud, the Tiger of the Panjshir, leader of the Northern Alliance, staunch friend of the US, for thick and thin, assassinated by Al-Quaeda and the Taliban on the eve of 9:11 so he could not help the US! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ahmad_Shah_Massoud. As for earlier history, there is a great book, The Man Who Would Be King: The First American in Afghanistan by Ben Macintyre , the story of an American adventurer in Afghanistan in the 19th century, who rose to be a tribal king!
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Covid-19 infestation with virulent Delta variant, vaccine related, lockdowns; senile, incompetent Biden in control; loss of Afghanistan with loss of thousands of lives, including 13 American heroes and many more wounded at the Kabul airport; loss of heavy and advanced military equipment, including classified secrets and computers, Black hawk helicopters, tanks and other heavy armor, technology that will go to our enemies, Iran and China — all left in a disorganized rout by Afghans and American troops by order of an incompetent President…
This bleak chapter in American history should be called Nightmare USA 2021, almost exactly 20 years after 9:11! This Nightmare for America and the world will finally be over Americans become moral, informed, and vigilant; when the 20-30% of Americans in the middle and perhaps even a few on the left wake up! And they finally put America and their families’ future first, and discard their dependency and indoctrination, their welfare benefits, their government freebies, their political correctness, their cult of victimhood; and separate the brainwashing garbage of Hollywood and the media —from reality! The future of their children and grandchildren is at stake. Supplement their education at home, after school and during summer vacations— or better homeschool them. I did with my last two! — Dr. Miguel Faria, Author of America, Guns, and Freedom (2019). Please read Chapter 20, “Gun Control and the hallmarks of Tyranny.”