Reading Abdul Salam Zaeef: My Life with the Taliban:

I often told the US Ambassador that he should contact myself and the Afghan Embassy directly and not try to solve the problems they had with Afghanistan though the mediation of the government of Pakistan or its administration. “Pakistan”, I told him, “is never an honest mediator and will control and manipulate any talk they mediate or participate in”. I passed on the same advice to all other diplomats and embassies, as well as the United Nations.

When recommendations from a third party were passed to me through the Pakistani administration, I never gave them a straight answer but advised them that whoever submitted the request or letter should contact me directly if they wanted an official reply.

On several occasions other governments approached me about specific issues through the Pakistani administration, but my reservations about Pakistani involvement often meant that matters could not move forward or be resolved. On one occasion a French journalist had been arrested in Afghanistan and the government of France demanded his release. Instead of negotiating directly with us, though, they chose to send officials from the Pakistani Foreign Ministry. I advised the representatives that the French government should contact me directly. It took another three days before the French ambassador called me and I was able to hand over the journalist on the Afghan-Pakistani border.

Pakistani officials were well aware of the general diplomatic principles, but they seemed to think that we at the Embassy were simple minded because we lived simple lives. Furthermore, America was pressuring Pakistan and other countries not to establish or maintain direct contact with us in an effort diplomatically to isolate the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan.

Even when I was alone with Pakistani officials they were afraid that there was an American hiding behind the next door. They would speak cautiously and always with the utmost respect to any Americans, even when they were only talking about them. They would refer to damned President Bush as “His Excellency, Mr. Bush”, or would refer to “Colin Powell Saheb”. I remember well how much it annoyed me.