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Taliban boasts it is being trained by Pakistan
Pakistan is still running training camps to support and arm the Taliban across the border in Afghanistan despite official denials, insurgents have claimed.
Middle-ranking Taliban commanders have boasted that they have received "practical guidance" and training in bomb-making by officers from Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence agency (ISI).
One commander, Mullah Azizullah, told a BBC documentary: "They are all the ISI's men. They are the ones who run the training. First they train us about bombs, then they give us practical guidance. Their generals are everywhere. They are present during the training."
In an interview at a safe house in Kabul in June, he added: "The Taliban movement was created with the help of the ISI. It is like when a tree grows - one has to plant it and water it."
The claims come amid heightened tensions between Pakistan and the US following an attack by insurgents on the American embassy in Kabul last month, by a group that Adml Mike Mullen, the then chairman of the US joint chiefs of staff, claimed was directed by the ISI.
Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state, visited Pakistan last week and urged the head of the ISI and the military to take action against militants operating on their soil, including the group behind the embassy attack, the Haqqani network.
Suspicions remain that Pakistan sees Afghanistan as a "strategic buffer" and is continuing to support insurgents so that it is ready for the withdrawal of British and US troops in three years' time. Pervez Musharraf, the former Pakistani president, told The Daily Telegraph last month that Pakistan had to "really think what will be the environment and fend for itself against all the exterior pressures, all the exterior manoeuvrings and political manoeuvrings against Pakistan".
A middle-ranking commander called Mullah Qaseem told the makers of Secret Pakistan, to be shown on BBC Two tonight: "For a fighter there are two important things - supplies and a place to hide. Pakistan plays a significant role. First they support us by providing a place to hide which is really important. Secondly they provide us with weapons."
Lt Col Tony Shaffer, who served with US Defence Intelligence between 1995 and 2006, said the ISI tipped of Ayman al-Zawahiri, the leader of al-Qaeda, during a bloody battle with Pakistani troops in Wana in 2004, allowing him to escape.
Col Richard Kemp, who worked at the Cabinet Office as head of intelligence on international terrorism between 2001 and 2006, said the ISI bore some responsibility for not preventing the July 7 attacks.
"The ISI of course must take responsibility for the fact that some of these camps were still up and running, including perhaps the camp that was responsible for training the 7/7 attackers," Col Kemp said.
Pakistan continues to deny the reports with Gen Athar Abbas, director-general of Inter Services Public Relations, the military organisation within the country's defence forces, telling the BBC: "To say that these militant groups were being supported by the state with the organised camps in these areas Ö I think nothing could be further from the truth."
Pakistan is still running training camps to support and arm the Taliban across the border in Afghanistan despite official denials, insurgents have claimed.
Middle-ranking Taliban commanders have boasted that they have received "practical guidance" and training in bomb-making by officers from Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence agency (ISI).
One commander, Mullah Azizullah, told a BBC documentary: "They are all the ISI's men. They are the ones who run the training. First they train us about bombs, then they give us practical guidance. Their generals are everywhere. They are present during the training."
In an interview at a safe house in Kabul in June, he added: "The Taliban movement was created with the help of the ISI. It is like when a tree grows - one has to plant it and water it."
The claims come amid heightened tensions between Pakistan and the US following an attack by insurgents on the American embassy in Kabul last month, by a group that Adml Mike Mullen, the then chairman of the US joint chiefs of staff, claimed was directed by the ISI.
Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state, visited Pakistan last week and urged the head of the ISI and the military to take action against militants operating on their soil, including the group behind the embassy attack, the Haqqani network.
Suspicions remain that Pakistan sees Afghanistan as a "strategic buffer" and is continuing to support insurgents so that it is ready for the withdrawal of British and US troops in three years' time. Pervez Musharraf, the former Pakistani president, told The Daily Telegraph last month that Pakistan had to "really think what will be the environment and fend for itself against all the exterior pressures, all the exterior manoeuvrings and political manoeuvrings against Pakistan".
A middle-ranking commander called Mullah Qaseem told the makers of Secret Pakistan, to be shown on BBC Two tonight: "For a fighter there are two important things - supplies and a place to hide. Pakistan plays a significant role. First they support us by providing a place to hide which is really important. Secondly they provide us with weapons."
Lt Col Tony Shaffer, who served with US Defence Intelligence between 1995 and 2006, said the ISI tipped of Ayman al-Zawahiri, the leader of al-Qaeda, during a bloody battle with Pakistani troops in Wana in 2004, allowing him to escape.
Col Richard Kemp, who worked at the Cabinet Office as head of intelligence on international terrorism between 2001 and 2006, said the ISI bore some responsibility for not preventing the July 7 attacks.
"The ISI of course must take responsibility for the fact that some of these camps were still up and running, including perhaps the camp that was responsible for training the 7/7 attackers," Col Kemp said.
Pakistan continues to deny the reports with Gen Athar Abbas, director-general of Inter Services Public Relations, the military organisation within the country's defence forces, telling the BBC: "To say that these militant groups were being supported by the state with the organised camps in these areas Ö I think nothing could be further from the truth."
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