Return-Path: <sentto-279987-2308-1001359681-fc=all.net@returns.onelist.com> Delivered-To: fc@all.net Received: from 204.181.12.215 by localhost with POP3 (fetchmail-5.1.0) for fc@localhost (single-drop); Mon, 24 Sep 2001 12:30:10 -0700 (PDT) Received: (qmail 31840 invoked by uid 510); 24 Sep 2001 19:29:15 -0000 Received: from n4.groups.yahoo.com (216.115.96.54) by 204.181.12.215 with SMTP; 24 Sep 2001 19:29:15 -0000 X-eGroups-Return: sentto-279987-2308-1001359681-fc=all.net@returns.onelist.com Received: from [10.1.1.221] by hk.egroups.com with NNFMP; 24 Sep 2001 19:28:54 -0000 X-Sender: fc@big.all.net X-Apparently-To: iwar@onelist.com Received: (EGP: mail-7_3_2_2); 24 Sep 2001 19:28:01 -0000 Received: (qmail 95528 invoked from network); 24 Sep 2001 19:26:16 -0000 Received: from unknown (10.1.10.142) by 10.1.1.221 with QMQP; 24 Sep 2001 19:26:16 -0000 Received: from unknown (HELO big.all.net) (65.0.156.78) by mta3 with SMTP; 24 Sep 2001 19:27:07 -0000 Received: (from fc@localhost) by big.all.net (8.9.3/8.7.3) id MAA06311 for iwar@onelist.com; Mon, 24 Sep 2001 12:27:07 -0700 Message-Id: <200109241927.MAA06311@big.all.net> To: iwar@onelist.com (Information Warfare Mailing List) Organization: I'm not allowed to say X-Mailer: don't even ask X-Mailer: ELM [version 2.5 PL1] From: Fred Cohen <fc@all.net> Mailing-List: list iwar@yahoogroups.com; contact iwar-owner@yahoogroups.com Delivered-To: mailing list iwar@yahoogroups.com Precedence: bulk List-Unsubscribe: <mailto:iwar-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com> Date: Mon, 24 Sep 2001 12:27:07 -0700 (PDT) Reply-To: iwar@yahoogroups.com Subject: [iwar] [fc:Pakistan's.'godfathers.of.the.Taliban'.hold.the.key.to.hunt.for.bin.Laden] Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit The Electronic Telegraph (UK) - Sept 23, 2001 <a href="http://news.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=?news?2001?09?23?w">http://news.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=?news?2001?09?23?w> pak23.xml Pakistan's 'godfathers of the Taliban' hold the key to hunt for bin Laden By Julian West in Islamabad (Filed: 23/09/2001) THE key to the success or failure of America's hunt for Osama bin Laden lies largely in the hands of Pakistan's powerful and feared intelligence service, an organisation referred to by many Pakistanis as "the invisible government". At first glance, the headquarters of Pakistan's Inter Services Intelligence Agency (ISI), set behind high stone walls on Khayban e Suhawardy Avenue in Islamabad, might be mistaken for yet another drab military building. Most Pakistanis do not even know what is behind its nondescript gates. It is this organisation, staffed by about 100 officers who run an internal and external intelligence network of many thousand agents and freelance spies, that America will have to lean on heavily to track and find bin Laden in the barren mountains of Afghanistan. Pakistan's many-tentacled ISI - equivalent to Britain's MI5 and MI6 combined - has long possessed the world's finest and most accurate human intelligence within Afghanistan. It also functions as the predominant power-broker in Pakistan and Afghanistan. American officials are publicly enthusiastic about the offer of co-operation from Pakistan's intelligence agencies. "This is a crucial development that will change everything," one said. "Pakistan has better links to the Taliban, and knows more about them, than anyone else in the world. Its agents walk the streets and talk the talk." Lt Gen Mahmood Ahmed, the head of ISI, was co-incidentally in Washington as the terrorist attack in New York took place, having arranged to visit senior administration officials several weeks earlier. After talks with CIA chiefs, he met Richard Armitage, the Deputy Secretary of State. An administration official said: "There was an extremely candid exchange from our side, one that left little room for misunderstanding. It is safe to say the rules have changed." Porter Goss and Bob Graham, who respectively chair the House and Senate intelligence committees, met government officials in Islamabad in August to promote better ties with Pakistani intelligence. American officials are aware of the great care that must be taken in evaluating information from the ISI, an organisation that has spent much of the past 10 years supporting and encouraging the Taliban. "These guys are the only people we can use," said one administration ally, "but that doesn't mean we can rely on them." Employing a vast spy network of Pakistanis who speak Pashto and Farsi, the local languages, the ISI has also recruited many hundreds of Afghans, luring them with money and promises of sanctuary for their families in Pakistan. "It's easy to recruit Pakistanis, a hotel doorman here earns only $4 a month," said a Western intelligence officer in Islamabad. "They also use Afghans who are afraid for their families. They tell them 'work for us, we'll look after your family here and you can come and see them'." Described as "the Taliban's godfathers and parents", the ISI is credited with fostering and nurturing the Taliban movement in the mid 1990s. It is also believed to have had access to bin Laden himself in the past. It was an ISI delegation, led by its deputy chief, Gen Faiz Gilani, that flew to Kandahar and Kabul early last week in a failed attempt to pressurise Mullah Omar, the Taliban's secretive, one-eyed leader, to give up bin Laden. ISI military "consultants" are to be found on the Taliban's frontlines alongside several thousand Arabs loyal to bin Laden. The agency has covertly armed and funded the movement for many years. A Western diplomat said: "The ISI has its fingers in every pie. That's why America had to get their co-operation. America has no worthwhile agents on the ground in Afghanistan. If anyone can catch bin Laden it's the ISI." Gen Hamid Gul, the head of ISI from 1987-1989, remains bitter at the way that he was treated by America which, he claims, had him sacked from his position because of his ideological commitment to the fundamentalist cause. Gen Gul turned the organisation into a state within a state with its own Islamic agenda. Although it failed in trying to install a fundamentalist government in Afghanistan during his leadership, his influence over the organisation remained crucial when in 1994 it became responsible for turning the Taliban into a force capable of taking over Kabul. Gen Gul said: "The Americans thought they could use the fundamentalists to fight the Russians and drop them. This is what they do, they build something up and then destroy it. They did the same with ISI. "When George Bush senior felt we were becoming too independent and ideologically-motivated he said 'clip the wings of ISI' and had me sacked. Now they want the same institution to share information with them." The Pakistani intelligence organisation has long been viewed by most of its countrymen as a sinister and shadowy force. Conceived in the 1950s by Gen Ayub Khan as a means of keeping watch on politicians, its power grew after he took over the country in 1958, effectively becoming the army's political wing. In the 1970s, the Prime Minister, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, began using the agency against his political enemies and it became known as a "dirty tricks" brigade. It ran smear campaigns against politicians, prominent figures and journalists. Visitors to Pakistan can expect to be tailed by mysterious men, or find their telephone conversations and e-mails are tapped. The ISI only became seriously active in Afghanistan during the Soviet-Afghan war when it helped the CIA to arm, train and fund the mujahideen. During the power vacuum created by the Soviet withdrawal in 1989 when Afghanistan was torn apart by warring mujahideen groups, the ISI grasped the chance to wield power in the region by fostering a previously unknown Kandahari student movement, the Taliban. A former CIA official said: "If you want to do anything in the region, you have to have the ISI on your side. These guys speak the languages, wear the clothes and walk the streets. He added: "No one knows Afghanistan like the ISI." ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ---------------------~--> Pinpoint the right security solution for your company- Learn how to add 128- bit encryption and to authenticate your web site with VeriSign's FREE guide! http://us.click.yahoo.com/JNm9_D/33_CAA/yigFAA/kgFolB/TM ---------------------------------------------------------------------~-> ------------------ http://all.net/ Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.2 : 2001-09-29 21:08:49 PDT