Spanish Report: Pakistan Intelligence Aided Taliban
Media Line News Agency
October 10, 2008
Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) provided explosives and possibly training to the Taliban, in clear contradiction of its declared war on terror, a Spanish military intelligence report revealed, according to the Spanish Cadena Ser radio station.
The report, which was issued three years ago, stated that the Taliban, with the help of Al-Qa'ida and Pakistan's ISI, received explosives that were to be activated at long distance. The Spanish report added that the ISI may have also trained Taliban operatives in camps inside Pakistan.
Accusations that the ISI was aiding Islamist movements, including the Taliban, are not new. In a previous interview The Media Line conducted with Dr. Ajai Sahni, editor of the Indian-based South Asia Intelligence Review (SAIR), Sahni said the Taliban and other movements, such as Lashkar-e-Taiba, Harakat-ul-Mujahidin and Jeish-e-Muhammad, were all instruments in the hands of the ISI.
An ISI spokesman denounced the Spanish allegations and termed the report "entirely baseless."
Meanwhile, Pakistan's army chief of staff, Gen. Ashfaq Kayani, on September 29 fired the head of ISI, Lt.-Gen. Nadim Taj, who was appointed by former president Pervez Musharraf. Taj was fired amid U.S. allegations that Pakistan was not doing enough to fight terrorism inside its territories. Taj was replaced by Lt.-Gen. Ahmad Shuja Pasha, who recently headed military operations against the Taliban in northern Pakistan.
The report, which was issued three years ago, stated that the Taliban, with the help of Al-Qa'ida and Pakistan's ISI, received explosives that were to be activated at long distance. The Spanish report added that the ISI may have also trained Taliban operatives in camps inside Pakistan.
Accusations that the ISI was aiding Islamist movements, including the Taliban, are not new. In a previous interview The Media Line conducted with Dr. Ajai Sahni, editor of the Indian-based South Asia Intelligence Review (SAIR), Sahni said the Taliban and other movements, such as Lashkar-e-Taiba, Harakat-ul-Mujahidin and Jeish-e-Muhammad, were all instruments in the hands of the ISI.
An ISI spokesman denounced the Spanish allegations and termed the report "entirely baseless."
Meanwhile, Pakistan's army chief of staff, Gen. Ashfaq Kayani, on September 29 fired the head of ISI, Lt.-Gen. Nadim Taj, who was appointed by former president Pervez Musharraf. Taj was fired amid U.S. allegations that Pakistan was not doing enough to fight terrorism inside its territories. Taj was replaced by Lt.-Gen. Ahmad Shuja Pasha, who recently headed military operations against the Taliban in northern Pakistan.