Leaked Report Ties Pakistani Intelligence To Taliban

By Cernig

A secret, high-level report leaked to the Spanish press explicitly ties the ISI, Pakistan's powerful intelligence agency, to the Taliban - the first time a NATO member has made the allegation so specifically. The report's leak comes at an embarassing time for the Pakistani givernment as they are currently engaged in a PR campaign, including interviews with President Zardari and press releases about the new ISI head, to bolster their fading image of being a staunch ally in the "war on terror" and to distance the ISI from allegations it uses terror groups as proxies.

The August 2005 report says Pakistan's shadowy Inter-Services Intelligence agency helped the Taliban procure roadside bombs and may even have provided training and intelligence to the Taliban in camps set up on Pakistani soil.

The Pakistani agency, known as the ISI, planned to have the Taliban use the explosives "to assassinate high-ranking officials" in Afghanistan, the report said.

It also warned of possible advanced training camps in Pakistan "where the Taliban receive training, help and intelligence from the ISI and where they are also developing new kinds" of improvised explosive devices. The report said the Taliban had also been receiving help from al-Qaida.

The document, which was obtained by Cadena Ser radio and posted on the station's Web site Wednesday, was marked "confidential" and topped with the Defense Ministry seal and the title of Spain's military intelligence agency.

A Defense Ministry spokesman refused to comment on the report, saying the ministry does not discuss intelligence issues. Cadena Ser did not say how it got the document.

A Pakistani spokesman described the report as "baseless, unfounded and part of a malicious, well-orchestrated propaganda campaign to malign the ISI." He went on to accuse "certain quarters" - probably a code for India - as "attempting to weaken" Pakistan's intelligence agency through such a campaign.

If so, those "certain quarters" have a wide reach. Rumors, leaks and reports pointing to the ISI's aid for terror groups, even their outright direction of such groups, have been rife for years and the Pakistani government itself has admitted on occasion that the ISI and elements thereoff are not fully under anyone else's control, neither the military's nor the government's.

A journalist friend also points to the report's inclusion of "developing new kinds" of improvised explosive devices. The report dates from 2005. Could these be the legendary EFP's which the US military has ascribed to Iran and which it has accused Iran of providing to special groups in Iraq and to the Taliban in Afghanistan? The US narrative on EFPs is ever-evolving, although coming from Pakistan - presumably via Silk Road smuggling routes - is something they've never considered. I have, however, and as long ago as February 2nd 2007, before the infamous Baghdad Briefing which was supposed to prove conclusively that Iran was responsible for those deadly bombs and failed so spectaularly to do so. It will be interesting to see if any more information on this surfaces.

Be that as it may, the report shows that Pakistan has a problem in the ISI, and it would do better to admit it than to continue bowing to military pressure to hide it. In the circumstances, it makes sense to wonder whether the democratically elected civilian government or the military are really in charge of Pakistan's foreign policy, and whether the uncertainty on that question something the West should be at all happy with.

Comments

[Peter G.]

This place deserves more traffic. As a technical note I would like to say that the technology on which sophisticated EFPs and SEFPs is very similar to the technology used to design explosive lenses that are needed to make the shock wave induced compressions in plutonium. Guess who has mastered that particular technology?

[Steve Hynd]

Hey Peter, nice to see you've made the journey from C&L!

The tech for EFP's is also very similiar to the lenses explosive penetrators used for sideways expansion of oil bores to increase oil flow. Everyone in the region has mastered that technology.

Regards, Steve