June 14th, 2010
09:44 AM ET
Pakistan rejects allegations of Taliban ties
Pakistani officials have rejected allegations that their country's powerful intelligence agency still supports the Taliban. Those allegations came from a Harvard academic, who authored a report for the London School of Economics. In his report, Matt Waldman accuses the ISI of providing "sanctuary and very substantial financial, military and logistical support" for the Taliban. Pakistan's military spokesman, Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas (pictured above) rejected the report as "speculative," saying it did not have "a credible source or authenticity." FULL STORY
I'm not impressed with this Waldman guy. I saw hin give his analysis on TV... he said word after word without saying anything at all.
Faisal
Never 2nd guess my comments.
During the horrific Bush-Cheney administration, many Billions of American taxpayer dollars given to Pakistan were entirely unaccounted for. It is entirely likely they were given to the Pakistani ISI and the ISI gave most of that money to the Taliban Supreme Commanders.
Now that Afghanistan has become the longest lasting hot war that America has been involved in, American citizens need to begin asking where the Taliban are getting all of their money, weapons and explosives in that remote desert region which requires everything to be flown or packed in. In the past the Karzai Clan provided the Taliban with ample amounts of money from its Opium-Heroin business with the blessings of the ISI and CIA when the Taliban were fighting the Russian troops in Afghanistan. Its clear the Opium-Heroin business is a important segment of financing the Taliban, however the widely distributed report which this article is reacting to alleges and implicates that American Taxpayer Dollars are directly being used to fund the Taliban fighters killing American and NATO soldiers.
That is a very serious implication which deserves a independent national investigation. The report by the way was generated by a UK group of investigative journalists who had exhaustively interviewed many senior Taliban Commanders in preparing their report.
http://www.englishtips-self-taught.blogspot.com
the face itself is lying, he is just laughing at the inquirer
"Why ISI keep up supporting the Taleban?"
Taliban IS Pakistan's army, though with complete deniability of blame through the hidden chain of command. Its real army is more or less equivalent to scarecrows as was demonstrated when 100,000 of them surrendered to the Indian army in 1972 Bangladesh(then East-Pakistan) freedom war.
More ever it is possible that the ranks/numbers (550,000 active + 530,000 reserve) of the regular army may be blown out of proportion by ghost names padded to the payroll by the top Generals to pocket the salaries.
Many senior officers of the army are deputized to train & administer the hidden army (i.e. Taliban & the rest of terror groups). Sometimes they are "officially" described as "retired".
Pakistan army is 2/3 rd Punjabi and 1/3 rd Pashtun. The army officer's cadre is almost 100% Punjabi who control everything else in the nation. Pakistani army flag is basically a Muslim flag, with 2 crossed 'swords of Islam' and Islam's traditional moon & star, all on a Muslim green color background.
ISI is a very important part, main branch of the army. Head of the ISI is called the Director General who has to be a serving Lieutenant General in the Pakistan Army. The general staff of the ISI mainly come from paramilitary forces and specialized units from the Pakistan Army (special services group, SSG).
The extensive dependence on irregulars is very old & has started along with the birth of nation when in 1947 they were sent into Indian Kashmir. In a remarkable twist, the regular army units joined the invasion later on but were stopped after the refusal of the Pakistan army C-in-C (a British) to obey Pakistani Prime minister Jinnah's orders to move the army into Kashmir.
Interesting information
And your point is?
"And your point is?"
** Taliban IS Pakistan's army **
That is the point. Taliban along with other 100 terrorists
In case you missed it, they are the first four words on first line in the response.
@ Truth seeker,
" Pakistan has lost more lives in this war on terror has sustained more bomb attacks civilian casulties etc. than any other country including US."
– this is a sickening argument, and the Pakistanis think this would help them to hide from the evils of the past.
– the Pakistanis must understand that by fighting the terrorists, albeit selectively and making the so called sacrifices, the Pakistani Army is not doing anyone any favour, only cleaning up its own mess resulting from decades of evil activities........ !!
Sir you clearly live outside of Pakistan. Pakistanis (including the security forces) are sick and tired of these nut jobs. We are doing everything we can with what ever we have got.
Pacifying these people are not the most easiest job in the world, just ask the Brits., the Russians, and now the NATO. Unlike them, we have to go after and kill our own people, sometimes in hundreds, and this creates even more resentment and hatred then ever.
The same ISI that facilitated the 9-11 attacks. The ISI is the most dangerous intelligence organization in the world, not because of their weapons, their skills or their funding, but their audacity. They make Mossad look timid. If the Pakistani military really wants to win this war, they should start by arresting or killing every senior ISI official.
Daniel-2. Your simple comment says a lot about the depth of knowledge that you have about the region.
Pakistan has lost more lives in this war on terror has sustained more bomb attacks civilian casulties etc. than any other country including US. One of the former Prime ministers murdered. Just finished a big military operation in Orakzai against the Pakistani Taliban. Saying that Pakistan are supporting Taliban sounds quite reduculous to me.
My question is;Who actually killed Benazir Bhutto?Was it really the Taliban like we're being told,or the ISI on behalf of Pervez Musharrif,the British MI6 or even the C.I.A.???To this day,nobody knows and I guess that we'll never know.
@Daniel-2
You mean just like JFK?
The meek words used by the Pakistani general, to reject the report, shows clearly, that where there is smoke, there's fire. Using soft words as "speculations", and not "having a credible source or authenticity", instead of purely denying the report, by calling it pure "flamebait". He actually compromises himself and the ISI, by coming out with such wording. Of course, for everyone else than the Pakistani, it's a public "secret", that it's true, that ISI controls all movements of the Taleban in Pakistan. As we've seen before, if they want to, they're able to catch any high ranking Taleban they want, immediately, and anywhere in Pakistan. Also, how come the Taleban was able to attack a NATO convoy, that was unprepared at the time, as the attack was made, just outside the capital of Pakistan, and not in the Tribal area, where they would have been more alert. This couldn't have been carried out, without "inside help", from the ISI. Everyone knows that these are facts. One thing I just don't understand is, why ISI keep up supporting the Taleban, as they're not only trying to crumble Afghanistan, but now also trying to take power in Pakistan, in a bloody war, in the tribal areas, against the Pakistani military itself, but at the same time, their own intelligence service are supporting the enemy of the armed forces of Pakistan. It seems very destructive to me, and I don't understand, why ISI don't turn around, and see the positive rationale by now, in eradicating the Taleban in Pakistan, so peace and prosperity could come to Pakistan, and at the same time to Afghanistan, as the government there, quickly could eradicate the Taliban, on their side of the boarder, if they're not able to escape into refuge, into Pakistan. It would then result in peace and prosperity, in Afghanistan also, and by that, Pakistan would have a friendly muslim neighbor, and trading partner. I believe this would be ideal, not just for the 2 countries, but also for world stability. Imagine, if they just want to, the ISI could accomplish all that. Why not do it ?
Well I have to admitt that Bush made a bad choice in Karzi & Obama was dumb enough to keep him. And now Obama has made a bigger mistake in bringing in Pakastan as a trusted partner & giving them millions of dollars & military equipment. He should have just ordered the strikes on the bad guys we knew of & just did what politicians do best "plossible deniability" Even though I voted for Bush I will say he made a big mistake in taking the pressure off Afghanistan & going after Iraq.
May GOD Bless & keep us all !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Why am I not surprised?I always thought that the West had the Pakistani government bought and paid for.