Pakistan's security service provides weapons and training to Taliban insurgents fighting U.S. and British troops in Afghanistan, despite official denials, Taliban commanders say, in allegations that could worsen tensions between Pakistan and the United States.
We know it. The Afghans know it. The Talibs know it and brag about it. The Paks continue denying it, despite the evidence, despite the Quetta shura, despite bin Laden's corpse, and despite the fact that the Haqqanis own North Wazoo. If it was really "rogue elements" they'd be rooting them out and shooting them because the last thing any kind of effective government wants is parts of its intelligence establishment operating on its own.
A number of middle-ranking Taliban commanders revealed the extent of Pakistani support in interviews for a BBC Two documentary series, "Secret Pakistan," the first part of which was being broadcast on Wednesday.
As usual, any reporter other than Daniel Pearl can waltz into Pakistain and find Talibs strutting around Peshawar or Quetta or Dera Ismail Khan and get interviews. Pakistain's intel network is incapable of doing the same thing.
A former head of Afghan intelligence also told the program that Afghanistan gave Pakistan's former president, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, information in 2006 that Osama bin Laden was hiding in northern Pakistan close to where the former al Qaeda leader was eventually killed by U.S. special forces in May.
Perv, recall, used to say periodically that Binny was either dead or not in Pakistain. When given his address and phone number he still couldn't find him - probably because he was down the road at the Pak army PX that day buying a new stereo...
Admiral Mike Mullen, then the top U.S. military officer, accused Pakistani intelligence last month of backing violence against U.S. targets including the U.S. Embassy in Kabul.
At which the entire country became indignant, with demonstrations in the streets against us Great Satans.
He said the Haqqani network, an Afghan militant group blamed for the September 13 embassy attack, was a "veritable arm" of Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence agency (ISI). Pakistan denies the U.S. allegations.
"No, no! Certainly not!"
One Taliban commander, Mullah Qaseem, told the BBC the important things for a fighter were supplies and a hiding place. "Pakistan plays a significant role. First they support us by providing a place to hide which is really important.
The place to hide being a significant portion of their country...
Secondly they provide us with weapons," he said, according to excerpts provided by the BBC.
Y'know, that doesn't sound like the sort of thing allies do. But I'm an old crank. Who listens to me?
Other Taliban commanders described how they and their fighters were, and are, trained in a network of camps on Pakistani soil. According to a commander using the name Mullah Azizullah, the experts running the training are either members of the ISI or have close links to it. "They are all the ISI's men. They are the ones who run the training. First they train us about bombs; then they give us practical guidance," he said.
AL QAEDA TALENT SPOTTING
Another Taliban fighter, known as Commander Najib, said al Qaeda trainers also operated in the camps, talent spotting possible suicide bombers. "I was in the camp for a month ... They were giving us practical training in whatever weapons we specialized in ... Suicide bombers were taken to a different section and were kept apart from us. Those who were taught to be suicide bombers were there," he said.
A former head of Afghan intelligence told the BBC Afghan officials gave Musharraf information in 2006 suggesting bin Laden was hiding in Mansehra, a town just 12 miles from Abbottabad, where bin Laden was killed by U.S. forces in May, but that the information was not acted upon.
Amrullah Saleh, head of Afghan intelligence from 2004 to 2010, said Syed Akbar, a Pakistani believed to be smuggling guns to the Taliban, told Afghan intelligence he had escorted bin Laden from one location to another. "The information we had was suggesting Mansehra was the town where bin Laden was hiding ... It happens after so many years that bin Laden was about 12 miles from that location," he said.
Saleh and Afghan President Hamid Karzai took the evidence to Musharraf who, according to Saleh, reacted angrily.
"Oh, that just makes me so angry!"
"He (Musharraf) banged the table and looked at President Karzai and said, 'Am I president of a banana republic? If not, then how can you tell me bin Laden is hiding in a settled area of Pakistan'.
Guess that question's answered beyond doubt.
I said 'Well, this is the information so you can go and check it.'," said Saleh, who quit last year after disagreeing with Karzai over plans to talk to the Taliban.
So they asked around and then they went away, back to garrison in Abbotabad, where they said a polite hello to the tall guy shopping for new shoes at the PX.
The BBC said Pakistan strongly denied the allegations made in the program.
"Tut tut. Pish and bosh. No way, man!"
Major General Athar Abbas
... who is The Very Model of a Modern Major General...
, director general of the Inter Services Public Relations and official spokesman for the Pakistan military, told the BBC: "To say that these militant groups were being supported by the state with the organized camps in these areas ... I think nothing could be further from the truth."
Then his lips fell off. |
Wazoo tribal region.
[Dawn] Pak military Thursday rejected the conclusions of a US investigation into a 
[An Nahar] Pakistain on Monday denied provoking 
Hillary Clinton
Senator 
[Dawn] Pakistain on Sunday forced an Indian army helicopter to land for having violated its airspace, but later allowed the four officers on board and the helicopter to return after interrogating the officers for a couple of hours, military sources said.
...a valley and an administrative district in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province of Pakistain, located 99 mi from Islamabad. It is inhabited mostly by Pashto speakers. The place has gone steadily downhill since the days when Babe Ruth was the Sultan of Swat...
[Dawn] Militants ambushed Pak troops on Monday, killing nine soldiers in gunbattles that lasted several hours on the outskirts of