Pakistan vows to 'weed out' pro-Taliban agents

updated 6:34 p.m. ET Aug. 1, 2008

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - A Pakistani spokeswoman conceded Friday that the government needs to root out Taliban sympathizers from its main intelligence agency, but officials rejected allegations that the spies helped plan a bloody bombing at the Indian Embassy in Afghanistan.

Government spokeswoman Sherry Rehman said there are "probably" still individual agents whose ideological convictions were formed in the 1980s, when the ISI intelligence agency marshaled Islamic warriors to battle Soviet troops in Afghanistan with U.S. support.

Such agents "act on their own in ways that are not in convergence" with Pakistan's interests or policies, Rehman said. "We need to identify these people and weed them out."

The statement was the first acknowledgment by Pakistan's new government that there may be pro-Taliban operatives in the intelligence service. But in a reflection of the sensitivity of the issue, Rehman later changed her statement to maintain the problems at ISI were in the past.

The conflicting comments will do little to build confidence in the 4-month-old administration's efforts to tackle Islamic extremism — a huge challenge facing Pakistan's first civilian-led government after eight years of military rule under President Pervez Musharraf.

Rehman's initial statement came after mounting U.S. and Indian allegations that ISI operatives are helping militant groups involved in the growing insurgency in Afghanistan.

Involvement in Afghan capital attack

The New York Times reported Friday that American intelligence agencies concluded ISI agents were involved in the July 7 embassy attack in the Afghan capital, which killed about 60 people.

The Times, citing unidentified U.S. government officials, said the conclusion was based on intercepted communications between Pakistani intelligence officers and militants who carried out the attack.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammed Sadiq described the report as "total rubbish," insisting there was no evidence linking the ISI to the Kabul bombing.

"The foreign newspapers keep writing such things against ISI, and we reject these allegations," he said.

Afghan leaders have long maintained the ISI is backing the Taliban-led insurgency, and Afghanistan's spy agency accused its Pakistani counterpart in a recent attempt to assassinate Afghan President Hamid Karzai.

Last week, India alleged that "elements of Pakistan" were behind the blast at its Kabul embassy, putting the two nations' four years of peace efforts "under stress." The nuclear-armed neighbors have fought three wars in the past 60 years.

The Pakistani army spokesman, Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas, described the Times report as a "most unkind" swipe at a partner in the U.S.-led war against extremist groups. He suggested it was designed to pressure Pakistan to act against militants.

CIA airstrikes
Pakistan also objects to repeated airstrikes on suspected militant sites in the Pakistani tribal areas near Afghanistan, apparently carried out by CIA drones based across the border.

Pakistan notes that more than 1,000 personnel in its security forces have been killed in battles with Islamic militants since 2001. ISI staff and even their children were targeted by suicide attackers last year.

Musharraf, who allied Pakistan in Washington's fight with al-Qaida after the Sept. 11 attack on the U.S., has insisted the intelligence service has severed its ties with the Taliban.

That was reiterated by Abbas, who said it was impossible for ISI agents to become rogue elements without detection because all the agency's officers are rotated in from the army for tours of two to four years.

American officials acknowledge the sacrifice of Pakistani troops as well as the ISI's crucial role in rounding up al-Qaida suspects such as Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, alleged mastermind of the Sept. 11 attack.

But suspicions remain.

Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani this week urged President Bush to share more intelligence so that Pakistani forces can target militant leaders.

However, a Bush administration official told The Associated Press on Wednesday that U.S. intelligence agencies suspect elements in the ISI of leaking information to militants that helps with attacks in Afghanistan.

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