NATO report implies Pakistan’s ISI supports al Qaeda as well

Here is another interesting excerpt from the shocking! BBC article about the classified NATO report on Pakistan’s support of the Afghan Taliban:

It says that Pakistan is aware of the locations of senior Taliban leaders.

“Senior Taliban representatives, such as Nasiruddin Haqqani, maintain residences in the immediate vicinity of ISI headquarters in Islamabad,” it said.

It quotes a senior al Qaeda detainee as saying: “Pakistan knows everything. They control everything. I can’t [expletive] on a tree in Kunar without them watching.”

“The Taliban are not Islam. The Taliban are Islamabad.”

First, an unnamed son of Jalaluddin Haqqani, the family patriarch, has been reported in the past in the Pakistani press to be living in Rawalpindi, near General Headquarters.

Second, the statement from the “senior al Qaeda detainee” is interesting, as it implies that the ISI (the Inter-Services Intelligence Directorate, Pakistan’s notorious military intelligence service) is quite aware of al Qaeda’s activities in Afghanistan. Again, this should come as no shock. See this report by Thomas Joscelyn on the ISI’s links with Haji Wali Mohammed, detailing the ISI’s support of al Qaeda’s “primary financial manager,” and this report on Sabar Lal Melma, for some specific examples of the ISI’s support for al Qaeda in Afghanistan.

Third, while the identity of the “senior al Qaeda detainee” is not given, we may be able to guess who he is. As far as I can tell, only one senior al Qaeda leader has been captured recently in Kunar province: Abu Ikhlas al Masri. The rest of the senior al Qaeda leaders targeted in Kunar have been killed, according to ISAF’s own press releases (most in airstrikes, not during raids designed to capture). It is also certainly possible that ISAF has captured another senior al Qaeda leader in Kunar and hasn’t reported it.

Bill Roggio is a Senior Fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and the Editor of FDD's Long War Journal.

Are you a dedicated reader of FDD's Long War Journal? Has our research benefitted you or your team over the years? Support our independent reporting and analysis today by considering a one-time or monthly donation. Thanks for reading! You can make a tax-deductible donation here.

Tags: , ,

5 Comments

  • Paul D says:

    Please can the West support India from now on as they are surrounded by evil ie Pakistan,China and Russia.

  • Charu says:

    Support India to do what? First India needs to get off its backside and act in its own self-interest, like Israel. Then there might be some support from the West – if the interests coincide.
    Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal, by some measures, now exceeds those of Britain and France. Who is this build up for? It can’t be just India. Perhaps it is just a defensive measure to keep the US from attacking it for its duplicitous role in Afghanistan. But at some point, possibly already reached, it stops being a defense and becomes an umbrella for its Afghan policy; allowing the return of the Taliban and subsequently global terror groups to plan the next 9-11; which this time could be nuclear!
    All the fears over a nuclear Iran are already present in spades in Pakistan, and the threat is even more immediate to the US (and the West). And for the life of me I can’t understand why this is not being actively discussed as the current administration plans to cut and run from Afghanistan. The war in Afghanistan is the symptom and not the cause of the disease, which is in Pakistan. Pakistan’s Generals and the ISI are the enemy, and Pakistan has always been the main threat to the US mainland from the time leading up to 9-11 and since then.

  • Infidel4LIFE says:

    Wow only 1 comment? Most thought the ISI knew way more than said, they were behind the taliban from the start, and we should start cozying up to India. The lines are being drawn for the “brawl for it all”

  • KW64 says:

    I suppose one should always consider the possibility that the Al Queda detainee is attempting to sow even more discord between the US and Pakistan.

  • Devendra says:

    WOW!!!! Is this a surprise or what? Is this even news?
    Any one with an IQ of my body temperature in centigrades knew that ISI is the main culprit here. Defang this ISI snake and see how soon peace comes to Afghanistan and Kashmir.
    These people are nutured on hatred of non-muslims and it starts at the first suckling at the nipples.

Iraq

Islamic state

Syria

Aqap

Al shabaab

Boko Haram

Isis