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| India-Pakistan |
| Spain: Confidential report says Pakistan intelligence agency aided Taliban |
| 2008-10-04 |
| (AKI) - A confidential report by Spain's Defence Ministry has claimed that Pakistan's intelligence agency and Al-Qaeda aided Taliban militants in assassination plots against Afghan government leaders. The confidential report, produced in August 2005, was obtained by Spain's Cadena Ser radio and posted online. The 2005 report said that it was possible that Taliban training camps in Pakistan were being backed by the Inter-Services Intelligence or ISI. "It appears possible, that advance IED (improvised explosive device or roadside bombs) training camps exist in Pakistan, where the Taliban receive training, support and intelligence from the ISI," the confidential document said. It also claimed that they were developing new improvised explosive devices, such as magnetic ones. The report's strongest claim was that the Taliban was using advanced IEDs, with the backing of the ISI and Al-Qaeda, to plan the assassination of high ranking officials in Afghanistan. "The plan is that the TB (Taliban) use these RCIEDs (or IEDs) to assassinate high ranking officials of the IRoA (Islamic Republic of Afghanistan). They will be put on vehicles, although there is no specification about the target," said the report. The report said that the Taliban had also been receiving help from Al-Qaeda. Cadena Ser did not reveal how it obtained the report and the authenticity of the report has not been verified by the Spanish government. Spain's Defence Ministry as well as the office of the Prime Minister, Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, have declined to comment on the document, while Pakistani officials this week denied any such link ever existed. Spain currently has the tenth largest contingent in the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan with 778 soldiers, according to the Defence Ministry website. There are 53,000 troops from 40 countries in Afghanistan participating in ISAF, NATO's largest ground operation outside Europe. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #3 The difference is that Spain does not have the primary responsibility to maintain a supply route through Pakistan to Afghanistan, nor do they have to worry about Pakistan's nuclear weapons should the current government collapse. In diplomacy, one often has to deliberately and publicly overlook transgressions, mistakes and lapses by another nation. Like selling sensitive fighter technology to China, for example. |
| Posted by: Milton Fandango 2008-10-04 15:00 |
| #2 Everybody with two brain cells What do you mean by that? |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2008-10-04 06:11 |
| #1 Nothing confidential about it, Spain. Everybody |
| Posted by: Barbara Skolaut 2008-10-04 00:30 |