Author: Editorial
Publication: The Pioneer
Date: April 27, 2011
URL: http://www.dailypioneer.com/334607/So-whats-new.html
US discovers ISI's true face
For several years, it has been the world's
worst kept secret. Now, it is officially out in the open: The ISI is a terrorist
organisation. According to a new set of US documents revealed by the whistleblower
website WikiLeaks, any association with the notorious Pakistani intelligence
agency is deemed as an indication of terrorist or insurgent activity. On Monday,
The Guardian published reports based on some 750 leaked military files that
contained details of terror suspects who had been captured during the war
in Afghanistan and later in Iraq and held in the American detention facility
located in Guantánamo Bay in Cuba.
Collectively known as the Guantánamo
Files, these documents provide detailed accounts of how intelligence officials
assessed the level of future threat posed by a detainee, often based on a
'Threat Indicator Matrix'. The matrix included a list of 36 groups such as
the Egyptian Islamic Jihad, the Sabotage Battalion of Chechen Martyrs, the
Iranian intelligence services and the Muslim Brotherhood along with the ISI
and it was assumed that "through associations with these… a detainee
may have provided support to the Al Qaida or the Taliban." The documents
effectively all but label the ISI as a terrorist organisation. Of course,
this is not exactly breaking news but now that it has been officially documented,
there is a sense of legitimacy. Incidentally, the revelations come only days
after the highest ranking American military official Admiral Mike Mullen blatantly
charged the ISI with ties to the Haqqani network during his visit to Islamabad.
These were preceded by damning admissions by Pakistani terror suspects David
Headley and Tahawwur Hussain Rana - they have been charged with providing
logistical support for the 26/11 terrorist attacks - that they were working
on the orders of the ISI. The Guantanamo Files detail several such instances
of ISI complicity in terror activities: High level meetings with the Taliban
leadership, weapons delivery, arms training, financial donations; all of which
have further worsened the frayed and fragile relationship between the US and
Pakistan.
One time allies in the US-led war on terror,
diplomatic ties between the two countries have been going downhill for years
now. Matters hit an all-time low when a CIA official killed two Pakistanis
in Lahore this January which led to a very public fall out between the two
intelligence agencies. Efforts to improve the situation have met with little
success and more obstacles, including a report from the Obama Administration
that was critical of the ISI and the Pakistani military for not doing enough
to obliterate terror networks within their country. Yet despite all this evidence
against the ISI, it is beyond comprehension why the Americans continue to
believe that Pakistan is an ally, when really it is nothing less than the
enemy. Many of the documents that have been made public now date as far back
as 2002 yet it was not until 2007 that the earlier Bush Administration took
serious note of the situation. Even now, the official line is that only a
few rogue elements within the ISI are in cahoots with the terrorists - even
the outspoken Admiral Mullen tempered his aforementioned comments with the
same observation - all though the Guantanamo Files make no such pretensions.
It is now high time that the US reconsider its ties with Pakistan.
