CIA confronts Pak with new evidence on ISI links to Afghan militants, War on Terror, NewAgeIslam.com

War on Terror

CIA confronts Pak with new evidence on ISI links to Afghan militants

S Rajagopalan | Washington

The discovery about the links of ISI functionaries to militants has added to the US's frustration in dealing with the mounting terror attacks from the Taliban and Al Qaeda militants, slipping into Afghanistan from the tribal areas of northwest Pakistan. Pakistan Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani, currently visiting Washington, rejected as "not believable" the assertions of deepening ISI ties to militant groups. "We would not allow that," he said in an interview to PBS's "News Hour with Jim Lehrer".

At a public event here on Tuesday evening, Gillani sought to downplay US concerns, saying that the ISI is now directly under control of the new civilian Government headed by him.

The assurances notwithstanding, US counter-terrorism officials remain concerned. As the new Government struggles to assert control, reports spoke of Washington's fears that the ISI may become even more powerful than when President Pervez Musharraf controlled the military and the Government.

http://newageislam.com/cia-confronts-pak-with-new-evidence-on-isi-links-to-afghan-militants/war-on-terror/d/372

Pak turmoil helps Al Qaeda tighten grip, train cadre, War on Terror, NewAgeIslam.com

War on Terror

Pak turmoil helps Al Qaeda tighten grip, train cadre

S Rajagopalan

"There are probably dozens of operatives the organisation has identified for operations. They speak Western languages; they have Western travel documents and experienced living and acting in the West," he said. According to him, the recruits were taken to sanctuaries in the tribal tracts of northwest Pakistan for training and indoctrinating and, in some cases, redeploying them. He reckons that most of the recruits are probably still in Pakistan "or to some extent in Europe".

On the whole, Gistaro believes that the Al Qaeda now has many of the operational and organisational advantages it once enjoyed across the border in Afghanistan, albeit on a smaller and less secure scale.

As for the probability of an attack on the US homeland, he admitted that the intelligence agencies were not aware of any specific, credible al-Qaeda plot. "But we do receive a steady stream of threat reporting from sources of varying creditability, which the US intelligence community is investigating aggressively," he said.

http://newageislam.com/pak-turmoil-helps-al-qaeda-tighten-grip,-train-cadre/war-on-terror/d/556