CIA links Pakistan with militants

[Praxius]

Spy agency confronts officials with proof of extremist ties, paper reports
http://www.thechronicleherald.ca/World/1070475.html

NEW YORK — The CIA has confronted senior Pakistani officials with evidence showing that members of the country’s spy service have deepened their ties with some militant groups responsible for a surge of violence in Afghanistan, possibly including the suicide bombing this month of the Indian Embassy in Kabul, the New York Times reported.

A top CIA official travelled to Islamabad this month with new information about ties between Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence agency and militants operating in Pakistan’s tribal areas, the newspaper said on its website late Tuesday. Its sources were American military and intelligence officials it did not identify.

The Times said the CIA assessment pointed to links between the ISI and the militant network led by Jalaluddin Haqqani, which American officials believe maintains close ties to senior figures of al-Qaida in Pakistan’s tribal areas.

The CIA has depended heavily on the ISI for information about militants in Pakistan despite long-standing concerns about divided loyalties within the Pakistani spy service, which had close relations with the Taliban in Afghanistan before the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in the United States.

The visit to Pakistan by the CIA official, Stephen Kappes, the agency’s deputy director, was described by several American military and intelligence officials in interviews in recent days, the Times said. Some of those who were interviewed made clear that they welcomed the decision by the CIA to take a harder line toward the ISI’s dealings with militant groups.

Pakistan’s prime minister, Yousaf Raza Gilani, is in Washington meeting with Bush administration officials.

In an interview broadcast Tuesday on The NewsHour With Jim Lehrer, Gilani said that to say that some in the ISI are "sympathetic to the militants, this is not believable. . . . We will not allow that."

CIA spokeswoman Marie Harf refused to comment on the Times report.

State Department spokesman Sean McCormack on Wednesday declined to comment specifically on the story. But he told reporters that Pakistan realizes that confronting terrorists along the Pakistani-Afghan border is "a common fight and a common threat."

He said that "every indication" shows that the new Pakistani government "understands that and is committed to that fight. Is there a need to do more? Yeah, there’s a need to do more."

Asked if the U.S. government has confidence that Pakistan’s government is in control of what the intelligence agency does, McCormack said, "As far as I have been told, there is not an issue there. I’m not aware of anything, any reports that the Pakistan government, the civilian government is not committed to the fight against terrorism."

What a crock of she'at.... if it was any other country giving money and supplies to Pakistan to fight their war, and the evidence has been continually piling up towards their corruption and perhaps assisting of the enemy.... sh*t would hit the fan, the money would be cut and perhaps more would be done.

But the US wants to give them the benifit of the doubt, even though they haven't done jack chat noir in comparison to the amount of supplies and money being dished out to them.

I mean, even if you want to go ahead with the innocent until proven guilty attitude/approach, the doubts and questions raised alone from not just this report, but from many from afghan authorities, and other NATO forces in the area, would be enough of a reason to warrent the stop of giving them money and supplies until the situation can be determined one way or another to be on the safe side.

If the worst is true and they are helping the Taliban in the area, then the money the US is giving them is going to the enemy they wish to fight, thereby funding through a middle man, the enemy and hince, prolonging the war we're all stuck in.

Sounds like a piss off situation if you ask me.