ISI pressing Taliban to fight US troops in Afghanistan: Report

[Lankan Ranger]

ISI pressing Taliban to fight US troops in Afghanistan: Report

Pakistan's powerful ISI is pressing Taliban commanders in Afghanistan to fight the US and allied troops and "kill everyone" so that no peace deal is cut to end the war without Islamabad's involvement, a media report says.

"The ISI wants to arrest commanders who are not obeying (ISI) orders," a Taliban commander in Kunar province was quoted as saying by 'The Wall Street Journal'.

"The ISI wants us to kill everyone — policemen, soldiers, engineers, teachers, civilians — just to intimidate people," he said.

Citing US officials and Afghan militants, the report said the members of Pakistan's spy agency are pressing Taliban field commanders to fight the US and its allies in Afghanistan.

"The explosive accusation is the strongest yet in a series of US criticisms of Pakistan, and shows a deteriorating relationship with an essential ally in the Afghan campaign," the paper said.

A senior Pakistani official, however, dismissed the allegation.

"Whenever anything goes wrong in Afghanistan, ISI is to be blamed," the official said. "Honestly, they see ISI agents behind every bush in Afghanistan."

Now, the ISI's motivation to keep friendly relations with the insurgents is believed to be desire to keep its leverage in Afghanistan when the US eventually leaves, as well as preventing India from getting cosy inside the war-torn country, the report said.

The newspaper further pointed out that the suspicions against the ISI are once again renewed at a time when the US is shifting focus to the militants that have found sanctuary in the lawless tribal regions of Pakistan, which border Afghanistan.

The Taliban and Haqqani network are believed to be planning and executing the majority of their attacks from the safe havens in North Waziristan and South Waziristan tribal areas.

Earlier, a declassified White House report said that Pakistan is not doing enough to combat terrorists and extremists in its restive tribal belt where some of the most wanted insurgents are hiding.

"The Pakistan military continued to avoid military engagements that would put it in direct conflict with Afghan Taliban or al-Qaida forces in North Waziristan," WSJ had reported citing the 27-page White House report which is to be given to Congress.

ISI pressing Taliban to fight US troops in Afghanistan: Report - The Times of India

 

[Hulk]

ISI pressing Taliban to fight US troops in Afghanistan: Report



"The ISI wants us to kill everyone — policemen, soldiers, engineers, teachers, civilians — just to intimidate people," he said.

ISI pressing Taliban to fight US troops in Afghanistan: Report - The Times of India

WOW look at that line.

 

[forcetrip]

Oh .. now what? The US has declared war on non existant things before. With a report like this no country can be forced to stand idle and apologize for cross border infiltration. So just take a deep breath and consider this the thousands of other reports that make their way to the sharper image products.

 

[jahangeer yousaf]

again another crap ......... will USA shut up ........................

 

[Bill Longley]

US is in Black mailing mode
it want to coerce Pakistan

this media leak strategy is to create strategic effects.
they are getting defeated and want to blame pakistan for their acts

No body told them to create imbalance between Pashtun Majority and Tajik minority.

historically speaking when ever Tajiks come to centre they try to take revenge from Pashtuns. Taliban movement in 90's was result of Tajik brutalities against Pashtuns.

US supported NA and disturbed BOP between ethnicities

 

[JP-1]

ISI pressing Taliban to fight US troops in Afghanistan: Report - The Times of India

TIME OF INDIA

 

[Ahmad]

US is in Black mailing mode
it want to coerce Pakistan

this media leak strategy is to create strategic effects.
they are getting defeated and want to blame pakistan for their acts

No body told them to create imbalance between Pashtun Majority and Tajik minority.

historically speaking when ever Tajiks come to centre they try to take revenge from Pashtuns. Taliban movement in 90's was result of Tajik brutalities against Pashtuns.

US supported NA and disturbed BOP between ethnicities

get some education about the history, issues and demographics of afghanistan before you open your mouth. it is not the first time i hear false information from some members in this forum.

 

[Bill Longley]

get some education about the history and demographics of afghanistan before you open your mouth. it is not the first time i hear false information from some members in this forum.

I think when I need education you need character and strength to reckon what is true

 

[Ahmad]

Insurgent commander tells of links with Pakistani intelligence service

For a Taliban commander fighting well-resourced foreign forces, help from the Pakistani intelligence service is a shameful necessity.

In a sign of how freely insurgents – or at least unarmed ones – can move around even the most heavily policed areas of the most sensitive parts of the Afghan capital, Kabul, the militant agreed to meet the Guardian in one of Kabul's ritziest restaurants, in a hotel-shopping complex, where he bemoaned the ISI's influence.

"Whoever disrespects your country and interferes in it is your enemy, but sometimes you need to ask for help from your enemies," said the wiry 52-year-old, as he scooped up food with bark-like hands, hardened by his day job as a farmer.

None of the well-heeled Afghan diners and foreign contractors batted an eyelid as the thickly bearded man – who cannot be named – helped himself to rice and barbecue chicken from the buffet.

Because of orders "from superiors" to talk to foreign media, he had been prepared to travel by taxi for several hours from his village. He passed easily through the extra security laid on for the second day of President Hamid Karzai's peace jirga – a gathering he said was controlled by the Afghan president's foreign backers and was therefore pointless.

Two nights earlier, the commander and his band of a dozen insurgents in Wardak province, just south of the capital, had attacked members of a local US-backed militia. They successfully blew up their Ford Ranger truck, killing one militiaman and wounding three others.

As with the nine Taliban field commanders who met the author of the LSE report on the ISI's connections to the Taliban, he spoke freely about his unease at the role of Pakistan's spy agency, which he blamed for attacks where ordinary Afghans were killed or hurt.

He said: "We do everything we can to avoid civilian causalities. But there are different types of Taliban – there are those like me and there are those that follow direction from the ISI. Those are the kind that kill elders and attack schools. They don't want to have schools in this society. They want to keep Afghanistan in the darkness of no education."

Some western officials hope that such anti-Pakistani sentiment will encourage some insurgents to stop fighting as part of a "reconciliation" process. One senior diplomat recently said that the two greatest inducements to Taliban fighters were the opportunity to return home from Pakistan and to get out of the grip of the ISI.

The arrest in Pakistan of a former senior Taliban commander, Mullah Baradar, in February is now regarded by analysts as a bid by the ISI to prevent the Afghan Taliban from unilaterally opening peace talks with Karzai's government.

The commander who spoke to the Guardian interpreted things slightly differently, but still saw it as an example of Pakistan's untrustworthiness. "They handed over one of best operations people in exchange for lots of dollars," he said.

"On the one side they are helping us, but on the other side when the Americans pay more money they hand him over."

A former head of vehicle registration for Kabul during the Taliban regime of the late 1990s, he said he only joined the insurgency to "protect myself and my country against foreign troops".

For a couple of years after the Taliban regime was toppled by the US-led invasion in 2001 he remained out of the fight, gradually becoming increasingly sceptical about a government that appeared to be corrupt and incapable of delivering on its promises.

But it was when people started being arrested during raids by US soldiers hunting for al-Qaida and the Taliban that he felt he had no choice but to join the insurgents.

"I had no choice; where else could I get money and bullets to protect myself and my family? Imagine if I was taken during a night raid by the Americans to Bagram or Guantánamo? Then my honour and religion would be at risk."

Insurgent commander tells of links with Pakistani intelligence service | World news | The Guardian

 

[Ahmad]

I think when I need education you need character and strength to reckon what is true

character? i am not characterless person. I know the truth, and it is people like you who is delibarately or unknowingly give false information.

 

[SMC]

Hmm, haven't we seen this **** before? Hint: LSE.