Islamabad: Elements in the ISI are engaging with the groups that support the Taliban and are killing American, NATO and Afghan troops, according to a US think tank report. The report by the bipartisan Pakistan Policy Working Group also cites the Afghan government’s allegations that the ISI-supported elements had orchestrated an assassination attempt on Hamid Karzai, and that the ISI had a role in the July 7 car bombing of Indian embassy in Kabul.
“All of this suggests that the ISI is no longer certain the coalition forces will prevail in Afghanistan and that it is using militants groups in an attempt to expand its own influence,” the Daily Times quoted the report, as saying.
It is said in the report that there were numerous common interests between the US and Pakistan that could provide a firm basis for a long term, mutually beneficial partnership, but still basic differences between the two over counter-terrorism strategy not only threatens to overshadow the `common agenda’, but could also make their relationship hostile.
To avoid such a situation, the report advised Pakistan to demonstrate `unambiguous commitment’ to rooting out al-Qaeda and Taliban and their safe havens from the region.
A related recommendation proposed commissioning of fresh National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) to assess what Pakistan and others were doing to counter and/or support militancy.
Besides, it said, NIE should form the basis for adjusting Pakistan’s cost-benefit calculus of using militants in its foreign policy through close cooperation and by calibrating US military assistance. (ANI)
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