MEMRI has acquired a document that is circulating among media sources in Afghanistan that indicates high-level cooperation between Pakistani intelligence officials and the Taliban in Afghanistan.
The document, a 2008 letter written by Taliban commander Mullah Abdur Raheem, the Taliban governor for Helmand province, is written in the Urdu language on the letterhead of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, the Taliban's shadow government.
It is not uncommon for Taliban leaders in Afghanistan to read and write Urdu, as most of them lived in Pakistan in the 1980s and 1990s.
The letter, addressed to a director of the Pakistan Army's Military Intelligence (MI), is signed by Mullah Abdur Raheem and also bears the seal of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan.
The following is the text of the letter, dated May 28, 2008:
Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan
South West Zone (Helmand province)
Date: May 28, 2008
Respected Brother Janab Usman sahab
Director, Military Intelligence
Assalam-o-Alaikum wa Rahmatullah wa Barkatuhu
Two vehicles which are laden with goods for the Taliban mujahideen brothers are entering Afghanistan through Naushki and Dalbandin [both in Pakistan's Baluchistan province]. Hope you will secure passage for these two vehicles:
Number plate – Karachi CK 8091
Number plate – Karachi CH 9316
I have sent my representative Mullah Musa. Hope that you will provide assistance.
Mullah Abdur Raheem
Governor, Helmand
