A former leader of Pakistan's Inter-Service Intelligence agency has been implicated as serving on the board of a proscribed non-governmental organization that advised al Qaeda and the Taliban on the development of chemical, biological, and nuclear weapons.

Lieutenant General (Retired) Hamid Gul served on the board of the Umma Tameer-E-Nau, an organization founded by Pakistani nuclear scientists and industrialists, according to a secret dossier that the United States has put together to present to the United Nations Security Council, The News reported. Gul has also been implicated in supporting the Afghan and Pakistani Taliban, the Haqqani Network, al Qaeda, and other extremist groups.

Gul served as the chief of the ISI from 1987 to 1989. Gul is known as the Godfather of the Taliban for his efforts to organize the fight against the Soviets in Afghanistan from 1979 to 1989, and the helping to facilitate the rise of the Taliban in the 1990s. Gul supports the terrorist insurgency in India-occupied Kashmir and opposes the US-led effort to defeat Islamic extremism.

The Umma Tameer-E-Nau "was founded by Pakistani nuclear scientists with close ties to Osama bin Laden and the Taliban," the US government stated in December 2001 after blocking the group's finances under Executive Order 13224. Three of the group's directors - two Pakistani nuclear scientists and an industrialist - were also proscribed under the executive order.

The group has been directly linked to the WAFA Humanitarian Organization and Al Rashid Trust, "two other non-governmental organizations with ties to al Qaeda that were designated on September 23, 2001 as supporters of terrorism under Executive Order 13224."

WAFA, a charitable front funded by a Saudi businessman, had offices in Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Jordan, Kuwait, and the United Arab Emirates. The group is run by al Qaeda and used to funnel money to the terror group. Al Rashid operates 21 offices in Pakistan and openly supports the Taliban and calls for jihad against the West.

The Umma Tameer-E-Nau's founders have "close ties to Osama bin Laden and the Taliban," the US government stated. "During repeated UTN visits to Afghanistan, UTN directors and members have met with Osama bin Laden, al-Qaeda leaders, and Mullah Omar, the leader of the Taliban, and discussed the development of chemical, biological, and nuclear weapons."

Bashir-ud-Din Mahmood, the group's founder, served as Pakistan's Director for Nuclear Power at the Pakistani Atomic Energy Commission. He also directed the Khushab nuclear plant which produces plutonium for Pakistan's nuclear weapons program. Abdul Majeed, a board member, was a senior official at the Pakistani Atomic Energy Commission.

US charges against Gul

The US government claims Gul "maintained extensive contacts over the years with Taliban and al Qaeda operatives located in Pakistan, providing financial support and encouragement to these groups," The News reported. He has provided "general, over-arching guidance to the Taliban leadership on operational activities in Afghanistan."

Gul has maintained direct contact with the Pakistani Taliban and Baitullah Mehsud, the group’s leader, as well as with Siraj Haqqani, the powerful warlord in North Waziristan and eastern Afghanistan.

According to the report, Gul has helped with "spotting, assessing, and recruiting young men from various Pakistani Madrassas for training in eventual attacks against US-led coalition forces in Afghanistan." He also helped establish terror training camps and appointed the leader of one of the camps.

Gul also is involved with financing a "Kabul-based criminal group" that kidnapped foreigners and "sold weapons and explosives to the Taliban and acted as travel facilitators for Taliban members in Afghanistan." The criminal group is the notorious D-Company, the mafia-terror outfit run by wanted South Asian don Dawood Ibrahim, a senior US military intelligence official told The Long War Journal.

US targets Pakistan's shadow command

In the wake of the Nov. 26 Mumbai, India terror siege, the US has stepped up the pressure on the Pakistani government to purge the military and intelligence services of al Qaeda and Taliban supporters and sympathizers. The Indian government and US officials have directly implicated the ISI and military-backed Lashkar-e-Taiba as being behind the 62 hour-long-assault by a team of trained terrorists that shut down India's financial hub.

Late last week, news that the US is planning to approach the United Nations Security Council to have several senior ISI and military leaders added to the UN list of terrorists. The move would block their internationals finances as well as add them to INTERPOL's list of wanted individuals.

Included on the list of former Pakistani intelligence officers being submitted to the UNSC are former ISI officials Hamid Gul, Javid Nasir, and Zahirul Islam Abbasi, as well as Aslam Beg, a senior Army officer. The US is also considering adding Khalid Khawaja, a former Squadron Commander in the Air Force, and Brigadier Ijaz Shah, the former Director of Intelligence Bureau. Khawaja has aided al Qaeda members that sheltered in Pakistan after the fall of the Taliban in 2002, while Shah has been implicated in the death of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto.

For more on the ISI's involvement with Pakistani terror groups, see
Pakistan's Jihad

For more on Gul, Nasir, Abbasi, and, Beg, see:
US moves to declare former Pakistani officers international terrorists