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Book : Israel Sold Weapons to Pakistan During the (first) Afghan War
Book exposes Pak-Israel arms nexus
NEW DELHI: Most of the Afghan resistance against the Soviet Union was fought by mujahideen and Pakistani soldiers using Israeli arms supplied after General Zia ul Haq entered into secret deals with the Israelis, a book published in the US has claimed.
The book Charlie Wilson's War: The Extraordinary Story of the Largest Covert Operation in History throws light on secret Pakistan Army-Israeli deals and their cooperation through the CIA.
The book claims that the deal was struck through the US Congressman Charles Wilson from Texas, a great pro-Pakistan activist who hated the Indians. He was the central figure to get these CIA-funded weapons for Pakistan and is credited in the book as the man who broke up the Soviet Union with the help of a 48-year old Houston woman with whom General Zia ul Haq also had an affair.
The book, written by journalist George Crile, says that Wilson made a proposal to General Zia to deal with the Israelis during Zia's first visit to US after the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. The proposal was made at a grand dinner hosted by the Houston lady, Joanne Herring, who was named later as Honorary Consul of Pakistan and became a critical player in the war.
"American liberals and human-rights advocates would never change their view of Zia as a thug, but his American visit was something of a triumph, and Joanne's dinner was part of the reason it succeeded," the book, whose excerpts were published by the US-based Pakistani newsportal South Asia Tribune, said.
The Pakistani-Israeli nexus was built up at a dinner hosted by Joanne. "Zia had dangerous decisions to make in the coming months about the CIA's involvement in his inflamed North-West Frontier, this was not the sort of proposal just anyone could have made. But by now, the Pakistanis believed that Charles Wilson had been decisive in getting them the disputed F-16 radar systems.
"As he (Zia) saw it, Wilson had pulled off the impossible. Now the Congressman, in his tuxedo, began to take Zia into the forbidden world where the Israelis were prepared to make deals no one need hear about."
Zia, ever the pragmatist, smiled on the proposal, adding, "Just don't put any Stars of David on the boxes," the book claimed. It adds, Wilson cut the Pak-Israel deal even without CIA's knowledge.
"Within weeks, they began developing an astonishing collection of weapons. The Spanish mortar, for example, was designed to make it possible for the mujahideen to communicate directly with American navigation satellites to deliver repeated rounds within inches of their designated targets. Global-positioning technology is well known today, but back in 1985 it struck Wilson as the most astonishing capability.
The weapon's name was purposefully misleading, chosen to conceal the fact that major portions of this "Spanish mortar" were being built by the Israelis. When the weapon was first used, it wiped out an entire Spetsnaz outpost with a volley of perfect strikes, the book said.
NEW DELHI: Most of the Afghan resistance against the Soviet Union was fought by mujahideen and Pakistani soldiers using Israeli arms supplied after General Zia ul Haq entered into secret deals with the Israelis, a book published in the US has claimed.
The book Charlie Wilson's War: The Extraordinary Story of the Largest Covert Operation in History throws light on secret Pakistan Army-Israeli deals and their cooperation through the CIA.
The book claims that the deal was struck through the US Congressman Charles Wilson from Texas, a great pro-Pakistan activist who hated the Indians. He was the central figure to get these CIA-funded weapons for Pakistan and is credited in the book as the man who broke up the Soviet Union with the help of a 48-year old Houston woman with whom General Zia ul Haq also had an affair.
The book, written by journalist George Crile, says that Wilson made a proposal to General Zia to deal with the Israelis during Zia's first visit to US after the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. The proposal was made at a grand dinner hosted by the Houston lady, Joanne Herring, who was named later as Honorary Consul of Pakistan and became a critical player in the war.
"American liberals and human-rights advocates would never change their view of Zia as a thug, but his American visit was something of a triumph, and Joanne's dinner was part of the reason it succeeded," the book, whose excerpts were published by the US-based Pakistani newsportal South Asia Tribune, said.
The Pakistani-Israeli nexus was built up at a dinner hosted by Joanne. "Zia had dangerous decisions to make in the coming months about the CIA's involvement in his inflamed North-West Frontier, this was not the sort of proposal just anyone could have made. But by now, the Pakistanis believed that Charles Wilson had been decisive in getting them the disputed F-16 radar systems.
"As he (Zia) saw it, Wilson had pulled off the impossible. Now the Congressman, in his tuxedo, began to take Zia into the forbidden world where the Israelis were prepared to make deals no one need hear about."
Zia, ever the pragmatist, smiled on the proposal, adding, "Just don't put any Stars of David on the boxes," the book claimed. It adds, Wilson cut the Pak-Israel deal even without CIA's knowledge.
"Within weeks, they began developing an astonishing collection of weapons. The Spanish mortar, for example, was designed to make it possible for the mujahideen to communicate directly with American navigation satellites to deliver repeated rounds within inches of their designated targets. Global-positioning technology is well known today, but back in 1985 it struck Wilson as the most astonishing capability.
The weapon's name was purposefully misleading, chosen to conceal the fact that major portions of this "Spanish mortar" were being built by the Israelis. When the weapon was first used, it wiped out an entire Spetsnaz outpost with a volley of perfect strikes, the book said.
Hrmph.
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