Pakistan's ISI intelligence agency 'supports' Taliban: UK University

[H2O3C4Nitrogen]

interestingly all the major news outlets are covering up this so called report.. Propaganda in full swing ..!

 

[H2O3C4Nitrogen]

Pakistan spy agency accused over Taliban

Inter-Services Intelligence agency denies LSE report (pdf) saying it is 'arming and funding' Afghan Taliban

Pakistan's president, Asif Ali Zardari, made prison visits to captured Taliban leaders, according to the LSE report. Photograph: Athar Hussain/Reuters

Pakistani intelligence is so deeply involved in the arming and funding of the Afghan Taliban that it holds a seat on the militant leadership council and has sent the president, Asif Ali Zardari, to make prison visits to captured leaders, a report by the London School of Economics has said.

Researcher Matt Waldman said Pakistani support for the insurgency was "official" policy, implemented by the powerful Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) spy agency in the form of money, weapons and training.

"Pakistan appears to be playing a double game of astonishing magnitude," the report, which cited interviews with unnamed Taliban commanders and western officials, said.

An ISI official in Islamabad described the report as "rubbish". "It's not even worth commenting on. It's speculative at best and downright degrading at worst," he said.

ISI links to the Afghan Taliban have been frequently reported – but rarely to the extent claimed in the document, which said the spy agency had official representation on the Quetta shura, the 15-man leadership council, based in western Pakistan.

Claims of civilian collusion were equally striking. Citing a Taliban source, the report said that, in late March or early April, Zardari met 50 top-ranking Taliban members at a secret prison in Pakistan.

According to the report, he told them: "You are our people, we are friends, and after your release we will of course support you to do your operations." Three days later, a dozen Taliban prisoners were released.

Farahnaz Ispahani, a media adviser to Zardari, said: "Not only are these allegations totally unfounded, they are quite outrageous. President Zardari's commitment to fighting terrorism and militancy in all forms is well documented."

The allegations may heighten tensions between Pakistan, Afghanistan and western countries at a time when the cost of the Afghan war is mounting.

Since 2001, thousands of Afghans and 1,800 foreign troops, 295 of them British, have died. The conflict has cost the US government $300bn (£206bn), with spending now running at $70bn a year.

The report, whose findings are based largely on unnamed sources, said Pakistan gives "extensive support to the insurgency in terms of funding, munitions and supplies".

One Taliban commander said his fighters received $120 per month from Pakistan, while others said the ISI was covering their families' living costs in Pakistan.

One interviewee said an ISI official had trained him to make suicide vests and car bombs in South Waziristan in 2005.

"The man was definitely ISI, he told us," he was quoted as saying. "When some of our friends were arrested by the Pakistani authorities, he went and got them freed."

Other interviewees appeared prone to conspiracy theories. One said the ISI support originally came from the US government – a reflection, the report said, of the $12bn in military aid the US has given Pakistan since 2001.

The report also revived allegations of links between Pakistani intelligence and Jalaluddin Haqqani, an al-Qaida linked warlord whose territory stretches into North Waziristan.

The report said there was "apparently a number of small, covert Haqqani bases in North Waziristan and Korram agencies, and Quetta, staffed by serving or former Pakistani military officials. They are often combined with a madrasa, provide a broad-based military training, and include suicide bomber cells".

The controversial document comes at a time of great sensitivity, as regional and western parties to the Afghan conflict jockey for position in anticipation of peace talks with the Taliban.

Senior British officials favour negotiations, some Americans believe in fighting, and the government of the Afghan president, Hamid Karzai, is increasingly fractured.

Last week, the long-time head of Afghan intelligence, Amrullah Saleh, resigned from his post, saying he had become an obstacle to Karzai's plans to negotiate with the militants via Pakistan.

Pakistan spy agency accused over Taliban | World news | guardian.co.uk

 

[H2O3C4Nitrogen]

A point scoring time for Hindustan times

Exposed: Pak’s secret love affair with Taliban

Dipankar De Sarkar , Hindustan Times
Email Author
London, June 14, 2010

Accusing Pakistan of playing an “astonishing double game,” two reports on Sunday said President Asif Ali Zardari had secretly released dozens of Taliban leaders from prison.

The reports — one by a London School of Economics team, the other by The Sunday Times — appearing a day after British Prime Minister David Cameron returned from Afghanistan, showed how Pakistan’s continued support to the Taliban was costing the West lives.

“Pakistan appears to be playing a double game of astonishing magnitude in Afghanistan,” said the LSE report, whose findings make a mockery of the West’s policy of pouring billions of dollars of aid into Pakistan, while negotiating with what it calls the ‘good Taliban.’

The report, written by Harvard University academic Matt Waldman, said support for the Taliban, far from being carried out by rogue spies, is “official ISI policy”. The Sunday Times report agreed with this view, noting that such support was “officially sanctioned at the highest levels of Pakistan’s government.”

Both reports, denied by Islamabad, said Zardari recently met captured Taliban leaders in Pakistan to assure them of his government’s full support.

The Sunday Times said Zardari met 50 high-ranking militants at a prison in Pakistan in April. He told the prisoners he had locked them up only because of American pressure, and they would be out soon. “You are our people, we are friends, and after your release we will support you,” Zardari was quoted as saying by a Taliban leader who was in jail at the time and released five days later.

Equally damaging for the Pakistan government were quotes in the Sunday Times report from Taliban members and Western officials saying up to seven of the 15 men who sit on the Taliban war council — the Quetta shura — were ISI agents. Some sources maintained every shura member had ISI links.

More than 1,800 NATO and US-led coalition soldiers have been killed in the Afghan conflict since 2002. Embarrassingly for Western policy-makers, the reports claimed improvised explosive devices responsible for killing most British soldiers in Afghanistan were introduced to Taliban by Pakistani officials.

 

[mughaljee]

Another gift of our friend. USA ?

 

[H2O3C4Nitrogen]

Pakistan spies have 'seat on Taliban council'

By Andrew Buncombe, Asia Correspondent

Monday, 14 June 2010


Having links with Taliban fighters is said to be an 'official policy' of Pakistan, according to a new report

Pakistan's notorious spy agency provides crucial funding and training to Taliban fighters operating inside Afghanistan and is represented on the movement's leadership council, according to a new report that says links between the two are deeper than previously believed.

Such is the importance of the relationship, says the report, that President Asif Ali Zardari recently visited Taliban prisoners, assuring them they would soon be released and telling them: "You are our people."

While links between the Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) agency and the Taliban have been known for many years, the report by the London School of Economics, based on interviews with Taliban commanders inside Afghanistan, suggests it is the "official policy" of Pakistan, which sees the fighters as providing strategic depth.

"The ISI orchestrates, sustains and strongly influences the movement," said its author, Matt Waldman. "[Taliban commanders] say it gives sanctuary to both Taliban and Haqqani [their allies in north Waziristan] and provides huge support in terms of training, funding, munitions, and supplies. In their words, this is 'as clear as the sun in the sky'."

The ISI developed relationships with various militant groups, among them the Taliban, whose fighters received funding and training from Islamabad enabling them to sweep to power in Afghanistan in the mid 1990s. Just last year, Mr Zardari said the ISI and the CIA "created them together".

The US, India and Afghanistan have accused the ISI of continuing those links. In the summer of 2008, the CIA even accused elements within the ISI of helping Taliban-linked fighters to bomb the Indian Embassy in Kabul.

But the report by Mr Waldman suggests an ongoing relationship, approved by the highest levels of the military and political establishment. It is so important that the ISI is officially represented on the Afghan Taliban's 15-member leadership council, the Quetta Shura, which is believed to meet in the west and south of Pakistan.

It also claims that Mr Zardari travelled with an ISI official in March to a secret jail where 50 Taliban prisoners were held. He reportedly told them they had only been arrested because of US pressure and said: "After your release we will, of course, support you to do your operations."

Mr Waldman said: "I was surprised by the [depth of the relationship]. I kept hearing it from people who were in no way connected with each other."

Since the aftermath of 11 September, when the US demanded Pakistan end its support for the Taliban, Islamabad has received billions of dollars in military aid to confront militants. Yet Pakistan's military has sought to draw a distinction between militants responsible for attacks on targets inside the country, and those who mainly strike at US and Western troops in Afghanistan. It is a policy that causes deep consternation in the West.

Mr Waldman said that if what Taliban commanders had told him was true, Pakistan was pursuing a dangerous strategic game. He said he believed Islamabad remained genuinely anguished by the threat presented by India and that the Taliban were considered a counterweight to this. "It's important that we appreciate the depth of that concern," he said.

Officials in Islamabad have dismissed Mr Waldman's report. Senator Farhatullah Babar, a spokesman for Mr Zardari, said that while the government believed in dialogue with militants who had given up violence, "there was no question of the president having met with Taliban prisoners". He added: "The president, the government and the Pakistan People's Party has always maintained the Taliban is seeking to impose its agenda on the people of Pakistan through violence."

Pakistan spies have 'seat on Taliban council' - Asia, World - The Independent

 

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Pakistan's spy agency is said to collaborate with the Taliban


By Alex Rodriguez, Los Angeles Times

June 14, 2010


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.
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."

alex.rodriguez@latimes.com

Pakistan's spy agency is said to collaborate with the Taliban - latimes.com

 

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http://www.dispatch.co.za/article.aspx?id=410018

Pakistani government 'training Taliban fighters' - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

 

[Aslan]

And the Sour Grapes award goes to

For being the

 

[Awesome]

Official Response from the Pak Military:

Pakistan denies ISI supporting Taliban in Afghanistan

Islamabad—Pakistan has described as “malicious” a report which alleges that Pakistan’s ISI intelligence service is giving key support to Taliban insurgents in Afghanistan.

The report, published on Sunday by the London Schoool of Economics alleged that the ISI is providing funding, training and sanctuary to the Taliban.

Rejecting the insinuating report, the DG ISPR Major General Athar Abbas said that the casualties suffered by the Pakistani army and the ISI during the war on terror “speak for themselves”. He called the allegations baseless and malicious.

He said the claims in the report were “rubbish” and part of a malicious campaign against the country’s military and security agencies.

Military analysts described the report in the London School of Economics contrary to the fact that seemed to have been planted by anti-Pakistan lobbies, particularly the Indian intelligence agency Raw.

Lt. General Hamid Gul commenting on the report said that it was not only a conspiracy against Pakistan but also against the US President Obama’s national security strategy.

He said Pakistan has lost as many as three thousand soldiers during the war against terror and incurred huge expenses in carrying out the operation against the militants.

A Pakistani diplomatic source described the report as “naive”, saying the any talks with the Taliban were up to the Afghan government.

“Without Pakistan’s support, it will be impossible for international forces and the Afghan government to make progress against the insurgency,” the source said

Pak Army rubbishes report of ISI-Taliban links as 'malicious' campaign - Oneindia News

Islamabad, Jun.14 (ANI): The Pakistan Army has strongly objected to the report of the London School of Economics (LSE) which blamed the Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) of assisting the Taliban, describing it as part of a malicious campaign against the country's military and security agencies.

Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR) spokesperson Major General Athar Abbas criticised the report and questioned its credibility.


"It is baseless. The sacrifices by Pakistan's army and the ISI and the casualties in the war on terror speak for themselves. We have a series of questions on the credibility of the report," Abbas told a foreign news agency.

According to the LSE's report, which is said to be based on interviews with nine Afghan Taliban commanders, the ISI is providing funding, training and sanctuary to the Taliban on a scale much larger than previously thought.

The report also said that President Asif Ali Zardari was reported to have visited senior Taliban prisoners in Pakistan earlier this year, where he is believed to have promised their release and help for militant operations.

However, the Presidential spokeswoman Farah Ispahani, dismissed the allegations in the report as "absolutely spurious."

"There seems to be a concentrated effort to try to damage the new Pakistan-American strategic dialogue," Ispahani said.

The report stated that 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," the report added. (ANI)

 

[moha199]

Its sad to see half of the people being brainless. Who would call a taliban claim as a solid prove! I mean what else is there to talk lmao. More then half of the new posted here are indian controlled newspapers. When the same talibans claim that India is helping them everyone jumps and say. omg will you take terrorist word over us!! now the same terrorist are accusing Pakistan but Indians are the rest of the world are listening so close to the same terrorists. It just made it clear, Whatever floats your boat! a piece of work man arrr

 

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Pakistan rejects report about ISI’s links with Taliban


ISLAMABAD/LONDON: Pakistan has strongly rejected the report, which claimed that the Pakistani military intelligence not only funds and trains the Taliban fighters in Afghanistan but is officially represented on the movement's leadership council, giving in significant influence over the operations. According to BBC, a spokesperson of the Pakistan Army while rejecting the allegations, termed the report as unfounded and baseless. The spokesperson further said that these allegations are an attempt to defame the security agencies and the Army. The report, published by the London School of Economics, a leading British institution, on Sunday, said that the research strongly suggested support for the Taliban was the "official policy" of the Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence agency (ISI). The report also claimed that Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari was reported to have visited the senior Taliban prisoners in Pakistan earlier this year, where he is believed to have promised their release and help for militant operations, suggesting that the support for the Taliban "is approved at the highest level of the Pakistan's civilian government." The report comes at the end of one of the bloodiest weeks for foreign troops in Afghanistan -- more than 21 have been killed this week -- and at a time when the insurgency is at its most violent. The report said that the interviews with the Taliban commanders in some of the most violent regions in Afghanistan "suggest that Pakistan continues to give extensive support to the insurgency in terms of funding, munitions and supplies."—Agencies

Welcome to Daily Regional Times Online Newspaper

 

[kattu-mian]

Official Response from the Pak Military:

Pakistan denies ISI supporting Taliban in Afghanistan



Pak Army rubbishes report of ISI-Taliban links as 'malicious' campaign - Oneindia News

No second thoughts there,Your govt doing what it does best

 

[GUNNER]

For people interested in reading the full research paper. This is the link...

http://english.aljazeera.net/mritems/Documents/2010/6/13/20106138531279734lse-isi-taliban.pdf

 

[RescueRanger]

I would seriously like to challange the strength of the author's evidence for making such claims. This is beyond a joke, sadly our government will never make concrete rebuttals in a structured manner to counter such baseless trash.

I would not lose sleep over what this or anyother academic says, the picture of the ground is quite the opposite.

 

[TaimiKhan]

These same LSE, Harvard etc etc kind of organizations were involved in the US campaign of proving Iraqi WMDs & God knows what not, the mobile chemical & biological manufacturing facilities, the diagrams of trucks filled with equipment and other stuff like that.

Colin Powell went into the UN security counsel, presented that report made with help of similar Matt Waldman kind of characters, and the end result is in front of us, no WMDs, no chemical weapon manufacturing trucks or biological ones and other stuff.

And strange thing about this Matt Waldman thing is, he interviewed these 08 or so field commanders, none of them tried to kidnap him knowing how lucrative his kidnapping could be, and if he could find these commanders, why couldn't the NATO or US find anyone of them ??

Its nothing, but complete BS, part of a campaign to pressurize Pakistan, nothing else.

Problem is, the time for US to exist is coming and whatever strategy they have devised, has failed miserably, be it the recent Operation in Marja, or the dropped Operation in Kandahar, so when the time of exist comes up, the sole blame would lie on Pakistan, especially ISI, that Pakistan & ISI did not cooperated, and such reports are one of the reason for pressurizing Pakistan to launch operation in NW, as they want to exit with some dignity saved.

They need a scape goat, and we are the best option for that, hope we don't become one and counter the US BS propaganda.