From: Steven Robinson <srobin21@comcast.net>
Date: Mon, Jun 14, 2010 at 9:08 AM
Subject: [bangla-vision] Pakistani spy agency collaborates with Taliban: Report
Pakistan's spy agency is said to collaborate with the Taliban
Among the assertions in a new report: It's government policy to support the
insurgency in Afghanistan, and the agency is 'involved at the highest level
of the movement.' The claims are the strongest yet.
By Alex Rodriguez
The Los Angeles Times
June 14, 2010
Reporting from Islamabad, Pakistan -
Pakistan's powerful intelligence agency not only funds and trains Taliban
insurgents fighting U.S. and NATO troops in Afghanistan, but also maintains
its own representation on the insurgency's leadership council, claims a new
report issued by the London School of Economics.
Assertions that Pakistan's intelligence agency, the Inter-Services
Intelligence, continues to nurture links with the Afghan Taliban are not
new. But the scope of that relationship claimed by the report's author, Matt
Waldman, is startling and could prove damaging to the fragile alliance
Washington is trying to foster with Pakistan, its military establishment,
and its weak civilian government led by President Asif Ali Zardari.
Waldman, a fellow at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University,
based his assertions on interviews with nine Afghan Taliban commanders as
well as with Afghan and Western security officials. The report claims that
it is official Pakistan governmental policy to support the Taliban's
insurgency in Afghanistan, and that the ISI has a strong voice on the Quetta
shura, the Afghan Taliban's leadership council, named after the southern
Pakistani city believed to serve as the council's haven.
The report states that, based on the interviews, "the ISI has
representatives on the Shura, either as participants or observers, and the
agency is thus involved at the highest level of the movement."
The report also alleges that Zardari, long regarded as a close ally of the
Obama administration in the war on terrorism, had met with captured senior
Taliban leaders in Pakistan and had vowed to ensure their release as well as
to support their efforts in Afghanistan.
The report's claims drew vehement denials from Islamabad, which
characterized the research as speculative and unsubstantiated.
"I consider this a highly speculative and provocative report," said
Pakistani military spokesman Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas. "I question the
authenticity and credibility of this so-called research. . It's not worthy
of any response."
Pakistan's links to the Afghan Taliban have been among the thorniest issues
complicating the U.S.-Pakistan relationship and the ongoing effort to uproot
Al Qaeda and other Islamic extremist organizations in the region. Though
Islamabad insists that it does not support Taliban insurgents battling
Afghan President Hamid Karzai's government and Western troops, U.S.
diplomats and military commanders have long suspected that Pakistani
officials, particularly in the intelligence community, have never severed
ties with the Afghan Taliban.
Many observers maintain that Pakistan continues to support the Afghan
Taliban behind the scenes as a way of countering attempts by its nuclear
archrival, India, to expand influence within Afghanistan and with the
Karzai-led government.
Earlier this year, Pakistan arrested several high-ranking Taliban leaders
that had sought refuge in Karachi and other Pakistani cities, including the
insurgency's second-in-command, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar. However,
analysts suggested that the arrests, which were welcomed by the U.S., may
have been aimed at ensuring Pakistan's seat at the negotiating table
whenever the West, Karzai and the Taliban embarked on peace talks.
Pakistan's calibrated approach toward dealing with the Taliban is especially
evident in the country's largely lawless tribal areas along the Afghan
border. There the Pakistani military aggressively pursues Taliban insurgents
that have targeted security installations and civilians, but insurgents that
focus principally on Afghanistan, such as the Haqqani network in North
Waziristan, are left alone.
Appearing on Al Jazeera television, Waldman defended his research, saying
that in addition to speaking to Afghan Taliban field commanders, he spoke to
several officials from Western governments who concurred with his findings.
"These are not erratic allegations," Waldman said. "They're not without
foundation, without a lot of support from analysts around the world."
Copyright © 2010, The Los Angeles Times
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-pakistan-isi-20100614,0,863571.story
--
Palash Biswas
Pl Read:
http://nandigramunited-banga.blogspot.com/
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