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| India-Pakistan |
| Pervez Musharraf was playing 'double game' with US |
| 2009-02-17 |
| Washington sent Special Forces into Pakistan last summer after intercepting a call by the Pakistani army chief referring to a notorious Taleban leader as a “strategic asset,” a new book has claimed. The intercept was ordered to confirm suspicions that the Pakistani military were still actively supporting the Taleban whilst taking millions of dollars in US military aid to fight them, according to the “The Inheritance,” by the New York Times correspondent David Sanger. In a transcript passed to Mike McConnell, the Director of National Intelligence in May 2008, General Ashfaq Kayani, the military chief who replaced Pervez Musharraf, was overheard referring to Maulavi Jalaluddin Haqqani as “a strategic asset”. The remark was the first real evidence of the double game that Washington had long suspected President Musharraf was playing as he continued receiving US military aid while aiding the Taleban. Mr Haqqani, a veteran of the anti-Soviet mujahidin wars of the nineties, commands a hardline Taleban group based in Waziristan and is credited with introducing suicide bombing into themilitants’ arsenal. “They must have dialled 1-800-HAQQANI” a source told Mr Sanger. “It was something like, ‘Hey, we’re going to hit your place in a few days, so if anyone important is there, you might want to tell them to scram’.” The intercept was the clue that led the CIA to uncover evidence of collusion between the Pakistani Inter-Services Intelligence agency (ISI) and Mr Haqqani in a plot to carry out a spectacular bombing in Afghanistan. Two weeks later, India’s Embassy in Kabul was bombed, killing fifty-four people and prompting a CIA mission to Islamabad to challenge the government with their evidence. The first cross-border strike took place in early September without Islamabad’s knowledge after Washington concluded that no one could be trusted with the information. General Kayani, a former ISI chief, became army chief when Mr Musharraf relinquished that post in 2007, a year before he was forced to quit as president. Worryingly for Washington, General Kayani remains Pakistan’s army chief. Mr Musharraf reacted angrily to the book’s allegations of double-dealing, which appeared in the Pakistani press for the first time yesterday. “Get your facts correct, I have never double-dealt,” Mr Musharraf told Pakistani television stations. “There is a big conspiracy being hatched against Pakistan, to weaken the Pakistan army and the ISI to weaken Pakistan.” Mr Sanger’s book, detailing the foreign policy challenges inherited by the Obama Administration, was published in the US last month. In it, US intelligence officials also speak of their fears that Islamist militants might launch a spectacular attack on Indian soil in the hope of ramping up tensions on the subcontinent, leading Pakistan to deploy its nuclear weapons. |
| Posted by:john frum |
| #21 but maybe the public will come to understand that the Taliban is just one of Pakistan's faces. Ummm, Spot, you got that backwards, Pakistan is just one of the Talaban's Faces ;-) |
| Posted by: Rednek Jim 2009-02-17 19:58 |
| #20 I'm shocked! The only thing left to do is to nuke them from orbit. It's the only way to be sure. |
| Posted by: Woozle Gravick5538 2009-02-17 19:39 |
| #19 i am so disappointed. i was sure that mushy loved us. |
| Posted by: Don Vito Uneatle5193 2009-02-17 19:27 |
| #18 That's the trouble with some of these stories, too many pics to choose! |
| Posted by: Steve White 2009-02-17 18:40 |
| #17 Shouldn't this require a Master of the Obvious pic as well? |
| Posted by: CrazyFool 2009-02-17 18:17 |
| #16 |
| Posted by: William Marcy Tweed 2009-02-17 18:05 |
| #15 I don't even trust the pakis at the store above my house too count my change back correctly but he was trusted with this? |
| Posted by: rabid whitetail 2009-02-17 17:32 |
| #14 No. No. That's not true. That's impossible! |
| Posted by: swksvolFF 2009-02-17 15:11 |
| #13 What's the big deal? Perv probably thought that this was understood... |
| Posted by: tu3031 2009-02-17 13:30 |
| #12 Of course former President General Dr. Musharref never double dealt. The accusation is insulting. Triple at least, quadruple or more most often. As others more knowledgeable than I have frequently commented, politics in the Land of the Pure far outdoes the Byzantines in complexity. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2009-02-17 13:28 |
| #11 Trust - but vaporize... |
| Posted by: M. Murcek 2009-02-17 10:47 |
| #10 Oh, gee. What a surprise. Really. |
| Posted by: DarthVader 2009-02-17 09:52 |
| #9 Note: Bush is no longer President. Note: Therefore, NY Times and other leftist enablers are allowed to tell the truth since it will 1) help Obama and 2) have no effect on Bush legacy. Note: We all know Bush lied and thousands died. |
| Posted by: Jack is Back! 2009-02-17 09:34 |
| #8 Wow, a Paki muzzie you can't trust! |
| Posted by: Hellfish 2009-02-17 08:40 |
| #7 Suddenly the NYT is credible? How does this hurt Bush? |
| Posted by: Nimble Spemble 2009-02-17 08:37 |
| #6 Remember Pakiwakiland is one of those places where you can get a PHD in Physics for a paper on how many Genies can sit on the head of a pin. Alice would have just seen it as a meaner form of Wonderland. |
| Posted by: 3dc 2009-02-17 08:24 |
| #5 As with the approach to the economy (deficits are dealt with; with even larger deficits) Obama will quadruple aid to Pakistan and declare the problem solved. |
| Posted by: airandee 2009-02-17 08:07 |
| #4 Somebody remind me why we give money to Pakistan. This article isn't news to anyone who reads the DS&TP, but maybe the public will come to understand that the Taliban is just one of Pakistan's faces. |
| Posted by: Spot 2009-02-17 08:06 |
| #3 Where is the surprise meter? |
| Posted by: Paul2 2009-02-17 07:53 |
| #2 What? No 'surprise' meter? |
| Posted by: Eohippus Shaviper7110 2009-02-17 07:52 |
| #1 Now they say this? |
| Posted by: imoyaro 2009-02-17 07:39 |