Leaks show secret Pakistan role: Afghan official
PTI | 10:07 PM,Jul 26,2010Kabul, Jul 26 (AFP) A massive cache of leaked Pentagon documents on the Afghan war highlights the role that Pakistan's intelligence service plays in destabilising Afghanistan, the president's spokesman said Monday.Kabul has long accused Islamabad of providing support and sanctuary for militant groups that plan, fund and carry out attacks in Afghanistan.The whistleblowing website Wikileaks made public 92,000 Pentagon files and field reports about deaths of innocent civilians, Pakistani agents meeting the Taliban and Iran secretly furnished it with money, arms and training.The Kabul government welcomed the leaks, saying the documents on Pakistan's activities in Afghanistan could help "raise awareness on the sanctuaries" Islamabad provides for militant groups."Since 2006, since the first suicide bombing, we have talked about the role of (Pakistan's) intelligence services," Waheed Omar, President Hamid Karzai's spokesman, told reporters."We need more understanding and awareness on the sanctuaries and I hope the leaked documents can raise the level of awareness on that question," he said."We hope they (Pakistan) will take practical steps that convince everyone they don't support them," he said, referring to militant groups that include the Taliban, Al-Qaeda and the Haqqani network.Omar said the Kabul government had been "shocked" at the volume of documents but had found nothing new in their content.Afghanistan's national security adviser this month called on the Pakistani government to "take serious measures" against Islamist groups launching attacks on Afghan targets from secure havens inside Pakistan.Rangin Dadfar Spanta said that throughout nine years of Taliban-led insurgency in Afghanistan, Pakistani authorities had failed to take action against the groups taking refuge on their side of the porous border.Afghan officials have blamed a number of major attacks on Pakistani-based groups whom they say are supported by Pakistan's intelligence and military.Such militants were blamed for blowing up the Serena Hotel in Kabul in 2008, attacking the Indian embassy, other Indian targets and a UN guesthouse in October that led to a mass withdrawal from Afghanistan of UN staff. AFP
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