Its official: ISI ‘hand-in-glove’ with Afghan Taliban in organizing attacks on US soldiers

NEW YORK - Pakistan, the frontal ally of the United States in the War on Terror and receiving over one billion dollars from Washington for combating terrorists, has allowed its military spy agency, the ISI, to directly meet with the Taliban in order to organize networks of militant groups that fight against American soldiers in Afghanistan.

The documents, made available on Sunday by an organization called WikiLeaks, found the suspicions harboured by Americans fighting the war in Afghanistan that Pakistan’s military spy service has guided the Afghan insurgency with a hidden hand, to be true.

The documents also pointed that the ISI was even hatching plots to assassinate Afghan leaders, and said that US soldiers on the ground are flooded with accounts of a network of Pakistani assets and collaborators that runs from the Pakistani tribal belt.

The ISI’s collaboration with the Afghan insurgency was broadly consistent with other classified intelligence, according to current and former US officials interviewed, The New York Times reports.

Experts cautioned that although Pakistan’s militant groups and al Qaeda work together, directly linking the Pakistani spy agency, the Directorate for Inter-Services Intelligence, with al Qaeda is difficult.

The records also contain firsthand accounts of the US anger at Pakistan’s unwillingness to confront insurgents who launched attacks near Pakistani border posts, moved openly by the truckload across the frontier, and retreated to Pakistani territory for safety.

The Bush and the Obama administration officials as well as top US commanders have confronted top Pakistani military officers with accusations of ISI complicity in attacks, and even presented top Pakistani officials with lists of ISI and military operatives believed to be working with militants.

An ISI spokesman said on Sunday that the agency would have no comment until it saw the documents. Pakistan’s ambassador to the United States, Husain Haqqani, said, “The documents circulated by WikiLeaks do not reflect the current on-ground realities.”

US officials have rarely uncovered evidence of direct ISI involvement in a major attack. But in July 2008, CIA’s Deputy Director Stephen R. Kappes confronted Pakistani officials with evidence that the ISI helped plan the bombing of Indian Embassy in Kabul.

Another, dated August 2008, identifies a colonel in the ISI plotting with a Taliban official to assassinate President Hamid Karzai. (ANI)