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ISI equips Taliban Hellâs Angels
EFL
Taliban fighters carrying out "drive-by" attacks on American troops and peacekeepers have been equipped with 700 motorbikes, weapons and satellite phones supplied by Pakistani intelligence officials, according to leaders of fighters attacking Coalition forces. The motorcycles have played a key role in Taliban hit-and-run operations in the south of the country where the campaign against international troops and aid workers has intensified. Taliban commanders disclosed details of the deal with individual Pakistani intelligence officials at a meeting in a safe house in Kila Abdulla, a small Pakistani town near the Afghan border. Despite Islamabadâs strong public support for the US-led war on terror, rebel leaders said that individual officials of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) backed the Afghan rebels in an attempt to counter the growing influence of rival Indian intelligence officials in the area.
| This is a pretty shining example of plausible deniability. It's not the agency, it's "individual intel officers," who happen to have enough surplus cash to pay for 700 motorcycles... |
ISI officials say that Indian officers have moved into Afghanistan intending to carry out operations across the border in Pakistan. "These officials in Pakistani intelligence believe that the Indian penetration can only be countered if they succeed in creating chaos in the bordering towns in Afghanistan," a Taliban leader said.
| We hear about those attacks inside Pakland every day, in fact... No. Wait. Maybe they're hushed up. |
Many members of the ISI are also opposed to Pakistanâs support for the war on terror. The agency backed the Taliban in the mid-1990s and senior officials are still closely aligned with them. The Talibanâs negotiations with ISI officials are said to be led by Hamid Aghaf and Mullah Qudratullah Jamal, members of the shura (council) set up by Mullah Mohamed Omar, the Taliban leader, to lead the new jihad against foreign forces and their local allies. Mullah Jamal travelled to Pakistan for talks with ISI officials last month, the Taliban commander said, following up the deal to supply motorbikes, rocket-propelled grenades, Kalashnikov rifles, wireless sets, dozens of satellite phones, torches and radios. Most of the motorcycles are red 125cc Hondas, good at negotiating the rough terrain.
Posted by: Bulldog 2003-11-30 |
