No I’m being serious I know now from the forums that Pakistan aids the Taliban but I always thought they were our allies or something like that
OK fair enough. The deep dislike that AWP and I share for Pakistan is well known on the site and I thought you were teasing us.
Short version: the national interests of Pakistan and the US are fundamentally opposed when it comes to Afghanistan. For a while there, Pakistan was receiving a-billion-with-a-B or more dollars worth of aid money from us every year, and then plowing a good portion of it back into terror networks that kill our troops and undermine our national interests in Afghanistan. However, since they have the only viable land route into Afghanistan for us, and because they could cause a LOT more problems for us in the region if they really wanted to, we tolerated that for a very long time.
For simplicity's sake, think of the Haqqani Network (HQN) as the Delta Force of the Taliban. They get the best funding, they have the most capable troops, they pull off the most spectacular attacks. And they are trained, equipped, protected, and directed by Pakistan's ISI. This is not a secret, and I'm not talking out of school. The HQN says that they are subordinate to the Taliban, but there's a reason why a Haqqani is a lead negotiator.
There is also a reason why Osama bin Laden was living freely in a big compound just south of Pakistan's equivalent of West Point. ISI knew he was there. They know where ALL of the major leaders of the HQN, the Taliban, and every other major terror group living in Pakistan are, because they're all on the payroll.
Pakistan is after its own interests in Afghanistan, and I'm not mad at them for it. That's the way the world works. There are some things we cooperate with them on, because our interests align. But the war in Afghanistan is made in Waziristan. And that's the Paks' fault.
If you want to geek out over the details, here's an old but useful document that hits some of the main points:
