The Taliban lobbyist in Washington
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The Taliban lobbyist in Washington is an episode raised with John Kiriakou by an interviewer, and the occasion for his account of the pre-1996 American relationship with the Taliban.

The claim, and what Kiriakou would confirm

The interviewer recalled that the Taliban had come to the United States for a large press conference, and that it was revealed their lobbyist was the daughter of a former CIA director, based in New Jersey.

Kiriakou confirmed part of it and no more. He said he did remember the story and recalled the lobbyist being based in New Jersey, but when asked which director he was talking about, answered that he did not know. The parentage claim therefore stands as the questioner's, not his.

Why it passed without scandal

What Kiriakou did explain is why he recalls the matter being treated as a non-controversial issue at the time: the United States, he says, never had any beef with the Taliban historically.

Some of the movement's older members had been jihadis in the war against the Soviets, men the United States financed, trained and armed, and to whom it gave Stinger missiles. Every year or two, he says, they would come to the United States, meet with President Reagan, be fêted in Washington, and then go back to Afghanistan. There was, in consequence, a standing relationship with at least some of these people.

Where the tolerance ended

Kiriakou states the pre-September 11 American position bluntly. Until Osama bin Laden went to Afghanistan, Washington saw the Taliban as not its fight: if they were going to trample on rights, there was no national interest at stake and it was none of America's business. It was not until they provided safe haven for bin Laden that the United States decided this was going to be a problem.

His account of the movement's origins, and of the Pakistani service that built it, is given in the ISI as two organizations.

See also

- The Taliban
- The ISI as two organizations
- The Taliban truck escort origin
- Osama bin Laden
