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for those who could not understand Urdu. A report which I've already posted in urdu.
Washington Post quotes US military and intelligence officials as saying release is ‘evidence’ parts of Pakistan’s security establishment still support Taliban
Daily Times Monitor
LAHORE: The Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) has set free at least two senior Afghan Taliban militants even as it helped the US detain the Taliban’s second-ranking commander in the area, The Washington Post reported on Saturday.
Citing unnamed US officials, the newspaper said the releases had occurred as the ISI worked with US intelligence operatives to capture Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar and other insurgents.
The quiet actions by the ISI were detected by US intelligence agencies but not publicly disclosed, the report said.
According to the paper, US military and intelligence officials said the actions were evidence that parts of Pakistan’s security establishment continued to support the Taliban.
The US officials declined to identify the Taliban men who were released because of the secrecy surrounding US monitoring of the ISI, the paper noted.
But the freed captives were senior Taliban members the US wanted in its custody, the report said.
The capture of Baradar was “positive, any way you slice itâ€, the paper quoted one of the unnamed US counter-terrorism officials as saying. “But it doesn’t mean they’ve cut ties at every level to each and every group.â€
Initial reports said the arrest was made in February, but US officials say that it occurred in late January.
US officials think that Pakistan continues to pursue a hedging strategy in seeking to maintain relationships with an array of entities – including the US and Afghan governments, as well as insurgent networks – struggling to shape the outcome in Afghanistan, even as it aggressively battles the Taliban on its own soil.
In interviews in Islamabad, Pakistani intelligence officials said the ISI is committed to dismantling insurgent groups and denied that any Taliban operatives had been released after being captured. “It is our policy that we will go against these people,†an intelligence official said. The CIA and the ISI are “working like thisâ€, he said, clasping his hands together.
Pakistani officials acknowledge ISI contacts with the Taliban, but describe them as "benign".
Washington Post quotes US military and intelligence officials as saying release is ‘evidence’ parts of Pakistan’s security establishment still support Taliban
Daily Times Monitor
LAHORE: The Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) has set free at least two senior Afghan Taliban militants even as it helped the US detain the Taliban’s second-ranking commander in the area, The Washington Post reported on Saturday.
Citing unnamed US officials, the newspaper said the releases had occurred as the ISI worked with US intelligence operatives to capture Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar and other insurgents.
The quiet actions by the ISI were detected by US intelligence agencies but not publicly disclosed, the report said.
According to the paper, US military and intelligence officials said the actions were evidence that parts of Pakistan’s security establishment continued to support the Taliban.
The US officials declined to identify the Taliban men who were released because of the secrecy surrounding US monitoring of the ISI, the paper noted.
But the freed captives were senior Taliban members the US wanted in its custody, the report said.
The capture of Baradar was “positive, any way you slice itâ€, the paper quoted one of the unnamed US counter-terrorism officials as saying. “But it doesn’t mean they’ve cut ties at every level to each and every group.â€
Initial reports said the arrest was made in February, but US officials say that it occurred in late January.
US officials think that Pakistan continues to pursue a hedging strategy in seeking to maintain relationships with an array of entities – including the US and Afghan governments, as well as insurgent networks – struggling to shape the outcome in Afghanistan, even as it aggressively battles the Taliban on its own soil.
In interviews in Islamabad, Pakistani intelligence officials said the ISI is committed to dismantling insurgent groups and denied that any Taliban operatives had been released after being captured. “It is our policy that we will go against these people,†an intelligence official said. The CIA and the ISI are “working like thisâ€, he said, clasping his hands together.
Pakistani officials acknowledge ISI contacts with the Taliban, but describe them as "benign".
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