Telegraph

British spies played key role in forcing collapse of regime By Michael Smith, Defence Correspondent (Filed: 08/12/2001)

BRITAIN'S spies were heavily involved in the complex negotiations that led to the collapse of the Taliban across northern Afghanistan, Government officials said yesterday.

The Secret Intelligence Service, MI6, reactivated old agents who had been in place during the Soviet occupation in the 1980s to take part in the operation.

They also used new agents developed before the September 11 attacks as part of operations against Osama bin Laden's al-Qa'eda terrorist network.

One official said: "They were used in highly imaginative ways to bring about the collapse of the Taliban in the north."

After September 11, Western intelligence agencies were heavily criticised for failing to prevent the attacks and for their lack of agents with a detailed knowledge of Afghanistan.

But officials claim that MI6 played a key role in the negotiations which led to the handover of many of the cities. "MI6 officers waited until precisely the right moment and then used their agents to press all the appropriate buttons," one said.

The officials refused to give more details for fear of compromising the MI6 agents involved.

But they said the MI6 operation was one of the reasons behind the Prime Minister's letter to the heads of Britain's intelligence and security organisations thanking them for their role in the success of operations so far against bin Laden and the Taliban.

The full text of that letter has not been released, but the officials revealed that Mr Blair had singled out the role of MI6 agents on the ground for particular praise.

Mr Blair said in his letter: "Intelligence, together with the work of personnel deployed in the region, has played a key role in bringing about the rapid collapse of the Taliban in key areas of Afghanistan.

"Without doubt, this has helped to save the lives of innocent Afghans and members of the armed forces."

MI6's Global Affairs Controllerate, which works against terrorists and drug smugglers, would have been developing agents inside Afghanistan in recent years to work against al-Qa'eda and the heroin trade.

Before the present conflict, Afghanistan was the source of around 75 per cent of the world's supply of opium from which heroin is produced.

During the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan, the CIA relied heavily on MI6 in its operations to send weapons to the Mujahideen.

-- Anonymous, December 08, 2001