Leaked NATO report claims to expose direct links between ISI, Taliban

[Major Sam]

LONDON: A secret NATO report claims to “fully expose” direct links between Pakistan’s Inter Sevices Intelligence (ISI) and the Taliban, the BBC reported early on Wednesday.
The leaked report has been derived from thousands of interrogations of captured Taliban, al Qaeda and other foreign fighters and civilians.
According to the BBC, the leaked report notes “Pakistan manipulation of the Taliban senior leadership continues unabatedly.”
It goes on to add “as this report is derived directly from insurgents, it should be considered informational and not necessarily analytical.”
The BBC report cited its correspondent in Kabul, Quentin Sommerville, who called the report “painful reading” for international forces fighting in Afghanistan, and the Afghan government.
Pakistan has denied it has any links with the Taliban, but maintains that solution to the region is an Afghan-led and Afghan-owned peace process.
The report claims that Pakistan and its ISI intelligence agency are aware of the locations of senior Taliban leaders.
“ISI officers tout the need for continued jihad and expulsion of foreign invaders from Afghanistan.”
The Times newspaper, which also saw the report, quoted it as saying the Taliban’s “strength, motivation, funding and tactical proficiency remains intact”, despite setbacks in 2011.
“Many Afghans are already bracing themselves for an eventual return of the Taliban,” it said.
“Once (Nato force) ISAF is no longer a factor, Taliban consider their victory inevitable.”
Kabul, which accuses Islamabad of supporting the 10-year Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan, put relations on ice after the September murder of its peace envoy Burhanuddin Rabbani, which one Afghan minister blamed on Pakistani spies.
The US Department of Defense said it could not comment on the report but set out its fears about Pakistan and its influence in Afghanistan.
“We have not seen the report, and therefore cannot offer comment on it specifically,” Pentagon spokesman George Little told AFP.
“We have long been concerned about ties between elements of the ISI and some extremist networks.”
US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta “has also been clear that he believes that the safe havens in Pakistan remain a serious problem and need to be addressed by Pakistani authorities.”
In its conclusion, the report said there had been unprecedented interest in joining the Taliban cause in 2011 – even from members of the Afghan government.
“Afghan civilians frequently prefer Taliban governance over the Afghan government, usually as a result of government corruption,” it was reported as saying.
The Times, in an editorial, said Pakistan was “actively hindering reconciliation” between the Taliban and Kabul.
“Islamabad appears to be engaged in a systematic effort to destabilise the Kabul government of (President) Hamid Karzai prior to the withdrawal of Western forces, and to assist those attacking and killing those forces.
“The ISI emerges from this document looking considerably more villainous, even, than the Taliban itself.
“The picture that is painted is very much one of a force that both expects, and is widely expected, to have a big stake in controlling the Afghanistan of the future.”


Leaked NATO report claims to expose direct links between ISI, Taliban – The Express Tribune

Now wats going on NEXT!!!!!

 

[AgNoStiC MuSliM]

It also claims that the Afghans trust the Taliban over the NATO propped Afghan Government - so if Pakistan is supporting the Taliban, it is supporting the side that the Afghan people trust more ....

 

[Shardul.....the lion]

Taliban, backed by Pak, set to retake power in Afghanistan: Report - Hindustan Times

The United States military has said in a secret report that the Taliban, backed by Pakistan, are set to retake control over Afghanistan after Nato-led forces withdraw from the country, Britain's Times of London newspaper said on Wednesday.



"Many Afghans are already bracing themselves for an eventual return of the Taliban," the newspaper said, quoting the report. "Once ISAF (Nato-led forces) is no longer a factor, Taliban consider their victory inevitable," it quoted the report.


The Times said the "highly classified" report was put together by the US military at Bagram air base in Afghanistan for top Nato officers last month. The BBC also carried a report on the leaked document.

Large swathes of Afghanistan have already been handed back to Afghan security forces, with the last foreign combat troops due to leave by the end of 2014.

The document cited by the Times and the BBC also stated that Pakistan's powerful security agency, Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), was assisting the Taliban in directing attacks against foreign forces -- a charge denied by Islamabad.

Washington and its allies have long complained that the Taliban and other Islamist and criminal groups operate out of safe havens in tribal areas in Pakistan's west and northwest.

The document's findings were based on interrogations of more than 4,000 Taliban and al Qaeda detainees, the Times said, adding however it identified only few individual insurgents.

A State Department spokesman and Britain's Foreign Office both declined comment on the report. Nato and Pakistani officials could not immediately be reached for comment.

Despite the presence of about 100,000 foreign troops, violence in Afghanistan is at its worst since the Taliban were ousted by US-backed Afghan forces in 2001, according to the United Nations.

The Nato-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) says levels of violence are falling.

Citing the same report, the BBC reported on its website that Pakistan and the ISI knew the locations of senior Taliban leaders and supported the expulsion of "foreign invaders from Afghanistan".

"Senior Taliban leaders meet regularly with ISI personnel, who advise on strategy and relay any pertinent concerns of the government of Pakistan," it said.

Pentagon officials said they had not seen the reports and could not comment on their specifics.

But Pentagon spokesman George Little said: "We have long been concerned about ties between elements of the ISI and some extremist networks."

Little said US defense secretary Leon Panetta "has also been clear that he believes that the safe havens in Pakistan remain a serious problem and need to be addressed by Pakistani authorities."

The Times said in its report the document suggested the Taliban were gaining in popularity partly because the austere Islamist movement was becoming more tolerant.

It quoted the report: "It remains to be seen whether a revitalised, more progressive Taliban will endure if they continue to gain power and popularity. Regardless, at least within the Taliban, the refurbished image is already having a positive effect on morale."

 

[illusion8]

10 years and trillions spent by the US in Afg comes to naught.

 

[SHAMK9]

can someone please tell me y do we (pakistanis) give sh**s about afghanistan? y r we even there?

 

[Shardul.....the lion]

My two cents,

If pakistan is reviving taliban, then the abandoned northern allaince should be recruited and formed as a formidable opposition to taliban by america.

 

[SHAMK9]

It also claims that the Afghans trust the Taliban over the NATO propped Afghan Government - so if Pakistan is supporting the Taliban, it is supporting the side that the Afghan people trust more ....

pakistan shud focus on its internal problems first, we shudnt even care wt afghans wants, its none of our business, we hav our own people who need care

 

[AUz]

If true then . . . .

Trillions of dollars spent , Pakistan got billions of dollars to 'support' America , India "invested" billions of dollars in Afghanistan ..... After a decade of politics , blood-shed and fighting ----- and in the end -- Pakistani-backed Talibans regains the power in Afghanistan ....Back to square one !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

May Afghan war end in the supreme interests of Pakistan !!!!!!!!!!

 

[Imran Khan]

never thought ISI is that much cleaver

funny part of this report is
afghan forces sale their arms and equipment in Pakistani markets

 

[illusion8]

My two cents,

If pakistan is reviving taliban, then the abandoned northern allaince should be recruited and formed as a formidable opposition to taliban by america.

will cause unnecessary bloody civil war in Afg again, nobody will benefit, the Afghan people will lose the most, better to find a peaceful compromise.

 

[illusion8]

India "invested" billions of dollars in Afghanistan .....

It was a humanitarian gesture, was for their good. Atleast the Afghani people tasted a taliban free regime for a few years. we hope for the best, but when hawks are around and want to influence talibanisation of Afg what can one do?

 

[AUz]

It was a humanitarian gesture, was for their good. Atleast the Afghani people tasted a taliban free regime for a few years. we hope for the best, but when hawks are around and want to influence talibanisation of Afg what can one do?

mmm oh ok . . . . .

Afghans were TEN TIMES better before US invasion , killing and plundering of their land AND imposing of the CORRUPT government of Karzai.

Afghan Talibans were not corrupted , atleast. Also they never 'urinated' on the dead bodies of Afghans (even if they were against them) .... Taliban should come to power with compromise too...Protection Women rights and NOT 'imposing' of their Islam on others...

 

[Awesome]

Given the choice between Afghan Government and Taliban, it is obvious Pakistan will choose them. If in 13 years the US would have put in place an Afghanistan that was prosperous, stable and friendly to Pakistan we would have chosen different.

 

[Imran Khan]

Given the choice between Afghan Government and Taliban, it is obvious Pakistan will choose them. If in 13 years the US would have put in place an Afghanistan that was prosperous, stable and friendly to Pakistan we would have chosen different.

yes in other words they never left us a choice sir.

 

[AbhimanyuShrivastav]

Given the choice between Afghan Government and Taliban, it is obvious Pakistan will choose them. If in 13 years the US would have put in place an Afghanistan that was prosperous, stable and friendly to Pakistan we would have chosen different.

Actually it will be nice in a way.. Once Talibanization of Afghanistan happens, Pakistan will be next in line. If you track the history in the area since 1980's the growth of religious extremism in Pakistan almost traces the same graph as growth of extremism/talibanization in Afghanistan. The sadist part of me almost wishes for this to happen as that will allow all the Taliban sympathizers in Pakistan taste the Taliban rule, what they have been wishing on Afghanistan for last so many years.

But both you and I know that its not gonna happen. These reports are nothing but red herrings to scare the congress in the US into allowing a freer reign to the Pentagon/CIA