Pakistan helping Taliban: secret Nato report

By Rizwan Khatik - Wed Feb 01, 7:47 am

LONDON: The Pakistani security services are secretly helping Afghanistan’s Taliban, who assume their victory is inevitable once Western troops leave, a secret Nato document says, according to reports on Wednesday.

The leaked “State of the Taliban” report – seen by the BBC and The Times newspaper – was compiled from information gleaned from insurgent detainees and was given to Nato commanders in Afghanistan last month, the media reports said.

It claims that Pakistan and its ISI intelligence agency are aware of the locations of senior Taliban leaders.

The BBC said the report was based on material from 27,000 interrogations of more than 4,000 captured Taliban and Al-Qaeda operatives, plus other foreign fighters and civilians.

“Pakistan’s manipulation of the Taliban senior leadership continues unabatedly,” the report was quoted as saying.

“ISI officers tout the need for continued jihad and expulsion of foreign invaders from Afghanistan.”

The Times quoted the report as saying the Taliban’s “strength, motivation, funding and tactical proficiency remains intact”, despite setbacks in 2011.