U.S. officials say Pakistani spy agency released Afghan Taliban insurgents

[Robb]

Source: Washington Post

The recent capture of the Afghan Taliban's second in command seemed to signal a turning point in Pakistan, an indication that its intelligence agency had gone from helping to cracking down on the militant Islamist group.

But U.S. officials now believe that even as Pakistan's security forces worked with their American counterparts to detain Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar and other insurgents, the country's Inter-Services Intelligence directorate, or ISI, quietly freed at least two senior Afghan Taliban figures it had captured on its own.

U.S. military and intelligence officials said the releases, detected by American spy agencies but not publicly disclosed, are evidence that parts of Pakistan's security establishment continue to support the Afghan Taliban. This assistance underscores how complicated the CIA-ISI relationship remains at a time when the United States and Pakistan are battling insurgencies that straddle the Afghanistan border and are increasingly anxious about how the war in that country will end.

The officials spoke on the condition of anonymity and declined to identify the Taliban figures who were released, citing the secrecy surrounding U.S. monitoring of the ISI. But officials said the freed captives were high-ranking Taliban members and would have been recognizable as insurgents the United States would want in custody.

Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/04/10/AR2010041002111.html?hpid=topnews

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The article goes on to add a commentary from an unnamed US military source that the reason for this "hedging" might be that "...The ISI wants to be able to resort to the hard-power option of supporting groups that can take Kabul, the Afghan capital, if the United States suddenly leaves."

Read that again. A US official is suggesting Pakistan's intelligence agency wants to set up the Taliban to take over Afghanistan when we leave.

[Crowman1979]

1. You know what this war was about?

$$$$

[xchrom]

2. Pakistan continues to use hard liners and

Extremists for it's own ends.

[EFerrari]

3. The underlying question is, who is in charge of ISI?

But it's really not very different from the way our government does things. And if things go badly over there, the ISI is available to be blamed.

[xchrom]

7. Oh I don't disagree -- at the root of ISI are traditional Pak problems

Extremists in the government , Kashmir, and being stuck between
Iran and India.

[bemildred]

4. Boy, it is just so difficult to find good, loyal help these days. nt

[Bragi]

5. For the ISI, this is all about India and the Kashmir

The Pak ISI does not want pro-India Karzai in power, they much prefer the anti-Hindu Taliban, plain and simple.

They also like U.S. military money.

The alleged PAK "offensive" last year against the Pakistani Taliban was just a sound a light show to make it look like they were doing what Obama asked of them.

The Taliban returned right after the fake offeneive ended, but far as I can tell, Obama appreciated the empty gesture.

[Name removed]

6. Deleted message

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