Afghan intel chief: Pakistan spies support Taliban

KABUL — Afghanistan's intelligence chief accused Pakistan's spy agency of helping Taliban militants to carry out attacks in his country like the ones that killed 10 policemen Thursday and wounded eight others.

Afghanistan has repeatedly called on Pakistan to sever all links with the Taliban, which came to power in Afghanistan in the 1990s with significant support from Pakistan's military intelligence agency, known as the Directorate for Inter-Services Intelligence, or ISI. Pakistan's government insists it no longer supports the militant group, but the country's civilian leaders have limited control over the agency.

Afghanistan's intelligence chief, Amrullah Saleh, told the parliament Wednesday that the Pakistani agency provides support to the Taliban leadership council in the Pakistani city of Quetta headed by the group's supreme leader, Mullah Mohammad Omar. He said the council sends militants over the border into Afghanistan to attack Afghan and international forces.

The intelligence chief's allegations resembled similar claims made by U.S. and other Western countries with troops in southern and eastern Afghanistan, where most of the Taliban attacks take place.

Saleh criticized Pakistan for denying that Omar is based in its territory and said they refuse to crack down on Taliban militants on their border, viewing them as "a kind of weapon" that can be used in both Afghanistan and India.

"The Pakistani government is making excuses by saying these areas are out of their control," said Saleh.

Afghanistan has accused militants based in Pakistan's lawless tribal areas or Pakistan's spy service of being behind several major attacks in Kabul, including the bombing of the Indian Embassy last July, an assassination attempt against President Hamid Karzai in April and an assault on the luxury Serena Hotel in January 2008.

By focusing the blame on militants in Pakistan, Saleh reinforced recent remarks by President Barack Obama, who has warned that militants using Pakistani territory to launch attacks should not be allowed free reign. Obama is expected to announce an overhauled strategy for Afghanistan and Pakistan on Friday, focused on dealing with the militant problem in both countries.

U.S.-led forces toppled the Taliban government in 2001, but many militants fled south and east into Pakistan. With the help of bases inside Pakistan, the Taliban have staged a violent comeback in the last several years that has threatened Afghanistan's weak central government.