Pakistani agents 'funding and training Afghan Taliban'

[Skeletor]

Interesting, if true.


Pakistani agents 'funding and training Afghan Taliban'

Pakistani intelligence gives funding, training and sanctuary to the Afghan Taliban on a scale much larger than previously thought, a report says.

Taliban field commanders interviewed for the report suggested that ISI intelligence agents even attend Taliban supreme council meetings.
Support for the Afghan Taliban was "official ISI policy", the London School of Economics (LSE) authors suggest.

Pakistan's military denied the claims. A spokesman said the allegations were "rubbish" and part of a malicious campaign against the country's military and security agencies.

The LSE report comes at the end of one of the deadliest weeks for Nato troops in Afghanistan, with more than 30 soldiers killed.

'Double game'

Links between the Taliban and Pakistan's intelligence service have long been suspected, but the report's author - Harvard analyst Matt Waldman - says there is real evidence of extensive co-operation between the two. "This goes far beyond just limited, or occasional support," he said. "This is very significant levels of support being provided by the ISI.

"We're also saying this is official policy of that agency, and we're saying that it is very extensive. It is both at an operational level, and at a strategic level, right at the senior leadership of the Taliban movement."

Mr Waldman spoke to nine Taliban field commanders in Afghanistan earlier this year. Some alleged that ISI agents had even attended meetings of the Taliban's top leadership council, the so-called Quetta shura. They claim that by backing the insurgents Pakistan's security service is trying to undermine Indian influence in Afghanistan.

"These accounts were corroborated by former Taliban ministers, a Western analyst and a senior UN official based in Kabul, who said the Taliban largely depend on funding from the ISI and groups in Gulf countries," the report said. With US troops due to begin leaving next year, Pakistan and other regional players are increasingly seeking ways to assert their influence in Afghanistan, analysts say.

Pakistan has long been accused of using the Taliban to further its foreign policy interests in the country. The ISI first became involved in funding and training militants in Afghanistan after the Soviet invasion in 1979. Since 2001, however, it has been a key US ally, receiving billions of dollars in aid in return for helping fight al-Qaeda

"Pakistan appears to be playing a double-game of astonishing magnitude," the report says.

'No proof'

But Islamabad says it is working with its international partners in hunting down the Taliban.

And the Taliban's former ambassador to Pakistan, Abdul Salam Zaeef, says there is no proof of a link between the ISI and the Afghan Taliban.

"I have no proof that Pakistan is supporting the Taliban," he told the BBC, "or that the ISI is providing money to them... or other support to provide weapons."

Even so, Pakistan's role in Afghanistan is viewed as critical.

Last week Afghan intelligence chief Amrullah Saleh resigned, saying he had become an obstacle to plans to talk to the Taliban.
Mr Saleh told Reuters news agency a day after quitting that the ISI was "part of the landscape of destruction" in Afghanistan and accused Pakistan of sheltering Taliban leaders in safe houses.

Pakistan has always denied such claims and points to arrests and military offensives against the militants on its side of the border. Nevertheless, parts of the tribal north-west of Pakistan bordering Afghanistan remain strongholds for the militants.

The BBC's Quentin Sommerville in Kabul says there is a growing understanding that military action alone will not be enough to bring peace in Afghanistan.

"Without a change in Pakistani behaviour it will be difficult if not impossible for international forces and the Afghan government to make progress against the insurgency," the report concludes.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/world/south_asia/10302946.stm

[Fury]

The experts been saying this for years and I would bet 100% that it's true. There's just no way for these high-ranking AQ and Taliban guys to move about Pakistan and stay hidden for this long without help from people in the government.

They're a terrorist state full of snakes that have one hand open looking for handouts while keeping the other on the trigger of the gun they're hiding behind their back.

It warms my heart knowing that we have been giving Pakistan over $10 billion a year in military and financial aid for them to fight every group but the ones they're supposed to be using it on. Funny thing is that every time we tell them to do something they say they don't have enough funding and we end up chipping off even more money to them.

[Fury]

Pakistan spy agency controls the Taliban and plans attacks
Pakistan's intelligence services are supporting the Taliban with training, cash and sanctuary on a larger scale than previously thought as they battle Nato forces in Afghanistan, according to a survey of insurgent commanders.

The study also claims that President Asif Ali Zardari made a secret visit to Taliban prisoners in a Pakistani prison to arrange their release earlier this year.

It adds fresh evidence to long standing concerns that the country’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agency retains ties to Afghan insurgents they first backed during their battle against Soviet occupation in the 1980s. It also suggests the policy is sanctioned within the highest levels of government.

The Pakistani military dismissed the report as “rubbish”.

However, Matt Waldman, a Harvard researcher whose research is published by the London School of Economics, said there was extensive collaboration between the ISI and the Taliban, led by Mullah Omar, as well as a second faction, the Haqqani network.

He drew his conclusions from interviews with nine Taliban field commanders in Afghanistan who said ISI agents were working closely with the groups.

“According to both Taliban and Haqqani commanders, it controls the most violent insurgent units, some of which appear to be based in Pakistan,” he wrote.

“Insurgent commanders confirmed that the ISI are even represented, as participants or observers, on the Taliban supreme leadership council, known as the Quetta Shura, and the Haqqani command council.”

Commanders also described how they received training and medical care in Pakistan. Some said border guards had turned a blind eye to fighters as they crossed back and forth.

The report comes at a critical time for Nato forces in Afghanistan. Last week was one of the deadliest on record with more than 30 soldiers killed.

At the same time, the US is building up troop numbers ahead of an expected push on Kandahar, the spiritual home of the Taliban, this summer.

Barack Obama has promised to start bringing home soldiers next year and his administration desperately needs some sign of success.

But the report suggests senior elements within the Pakistan government – seen as a key ally in the war on terror – could be undermining those efforts.

Mr Waldman said Pakistan’s activities were focused on building “strategic depth” in Afghanistan, part of a policy to gain influence and deny Islamabad’s rival India a foothold on its eastern flank if US forces leave.

He said the strategy had support at the highest level, and detailed a visit made by President Zardari to a secret prison where he addressed 50 high-ranking Taliban captives.

“Reportedly, he told them they were arrested because he was under a lot of pressure from the Americans and that, ‘you are our people, we are friends, and after your release we will of course support you to do
your operations.’”

The report was strongly criticised by a senior intelligence official, who said the findings were based on uncorroborated interviews with people whose word could not be trusted.

“I have read the report and the only way to describe it is with one word: rubbish,” he said.

Pakistan’s co-operation is seen as crucial to the success of the war in Afghanistan. British and American soldiers are training soldiers with the Frontier Corps who are battling the Pakistan Taliban in the country’s lawless border regions.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/pakistan/7824865/Pakistan-spy-agency-controls-the-Taliban-and-plans-attacks.html

[Fury]

ISI 'officially' supporting Taliban: Report

2010-06-13 10:30:00
Last Updated: 2010-06-13 12:21:14

London: In what could be damning proof of a sinister double game by Pakistan in Afghanistan, a report by the London School of Economics (LSE) has established a clear link between the Afghan Taliban and the Inter Services Intelligence (ISI).

The report, which is based on several interviews and is backed by two top western security officials, said supporting the Taliban was the 'official' strategy of the ISI, and that 'Pakistan appears to be playing a double game of astonishing magnitude in Afghanistan.'

"As the provider of sanctuary and substantial financial, military and logistical support to the insurgency, the ISI appears to have strong strategic and operational influence - reinforced by coercion. There is thus a strong case that the ISI orchestrates, sustains and shapes the overall insurgent campaign," the report said.

The 'magnitude' of ISI's support can be gauged from the fact that up to seven of the 15-man war council (shura) of the Taliban are said to be Pakistani intelligence agents.

Even the former head of Afghanistan's intelligence agency, Amrullah Saleh, who resigned last week after President Hamid Karzai questioned his loyalty, put a stamp on this nefarious strategy of Pakistan.

"The ISI is part of the landscape of destruction in this country, no doubt, so it will be a waste of time to provide evidence of ISI involvement. They are a part of it," The Times Online quoted Saleh, as saying.

The report prepared by Matt Waldman, a Harvard analyst, also claimed that even President Asif Ali Zardari was hand in gloves in the crime.

It said that Zardari had held a meeting with some of captured Taliban leaders and assured them that the insurgents have the full support of his 'democratic' government.

A senior Taliban source, who is inconstant touch with the Taliban's Quetta shura, also confirmed that in early April Zardari and a senior ISI official met about 50 high-ranking Taliban members at a prison in Pakistan.

Sources revealed that the Taliban commanders were treated like state guests in Pakistani jails.

"Prison guards wearing dark glasses served the Taliban captives traditional Afghan meals three times a day. They wanted to make the prisoners feel like they were important and respected," sources said.

During the meeting Zardari told the captive extremist leaders that Islamabad was under tremendous pressure from the US to dismantle the Taliban's terror sanctuary in Pakistan and nab the ringleaders, nevertheless the Pakistan government would continue backing the Afghan insurgency.

"You are our people, we are friends, and after your release we will of course support you to do your operations," sources quoted Zardari, as saying.

During his visit, Zardari is also said to have met Mullah Ghani Barader, Taliban's second in command, who was captured near Karachi in January this year.

Five days after Zardari's visit, a handful of Taliban prisoners were driven into Quetta and set free, in line with the 'president's pledge', the report said.

"This report is consistent with Pakistan's political history in which civilian leaders actively backed jihadi groups that operate in Afghanistan and Kashmir," it added.

http://sify.com/news/isi-officially-supporting-taliban-report-news-international-kgnk4cjgaij.html