KABUL — Afghanistan's intelligence chief accused Pakistan's spy agency of helping Taliban militants carry out attacks in his country, highlighting one of the biggest challenges facing the Obama administration as it prepared Thursday to launch a new strategy for the Afghan conflict.
Many Taliban militants fled to Pakistan's border area from Afghanistan after the 2001 U.S.-led invasion, finding a sanctuary that allowed them to mount cross-border attacks that have destabilized Afghanistan and jeopardized international efforts to rebuild the country.
President Obama called the leaders of both Afghanistan and Pakistan on Thursday to brief them on the plan for more troops to be announced today, their offices said. Many believe that even with a stepped-up U.S. effort, chances for success are slim unless Pakistan effectively cracks down on Taliban and al-Qaida militants operating from its territory.
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The U.S. and Afghanistan have repeatedly called on Pakistan to sever all links with the Taliban, which came to power in Afghanistan in the 1990s with significant support from Pakistan's military intelligence agency — known as the Directorate for Inter-Services Intelligence, or ISI. Pakistan's government insists it no longer supports the militant group, but the country's civilian leaders have limited control over the agency.
Afghanistan's intelligence chief, Amrullah Saleh, said Wednesday that the spy agency provides support to the Taliban leadership council, headed by the group's supreme leader, Mullah Mohammad Omar, in the Pakistani city of Quetta. He said the council sends militants into Afghanistan to attack Afghan and international forces.
Talat Masood, a retired general and security analyst, told AP Television that he believes the ISI may have links in Afghanistan. But he said that does not necessarily mean it is supporting the Taliban.
He said the ISI maintains contacts with militants in order to monitor their activities "because it is itself being hit by the Taliban."
Saleh, the Afghan spy chief, criticized Pakistani officials for denying that Taliban leaders are based in the country. He said the Pakistanis view militants on their border as "a kind of weapon" that can be used in both Afghanistan and India.
"The Pakistani government is making excuses by saying these areas are out of their control," said Saleh.
Afghanistan has accused Pakistan's spy service or terrorists based in Pakistan's lawless tribal areas of being behind several major attacks in Kabul, including the bombing of the Indian Embassy last July, an assassination attempt against President Hamid Karzai in April and an assault on the luxury Serena Hotel in January 2008.
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