Pakistan’s powerful ISI is still working in “tandem” with the Taliban in Afghanistan to further complicate efforts to find a political solution to the conflict there, External Affairs Minister S M Krishna has said.
Pakistan’s disruptive role in the Taliban insurgency continues, Mr. Krishna told the ‘Wall Street Journal’ on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly here.
He said the military situation in Afghanistan was complicated by the ongoing aid for the Afghan Taliban provided by Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agency. “They are a tandem,” Mr. Krishna said. “They are still together.”
Pakistan’s military has been fighting the Taliban in the tribal belt and other parts of the country’s northwest, but Mr. Krishna said the government there has been unable to break ties between the spy agency and the militants in Afghanistan.
On former Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf’s admission that the US military aid was diverted to boost defences against India, Mr. Krishna said India felt “vindicated“.
“We have always been cautioning our friends, the United States, that please, please for heaven’s sake make sure that the aid you are giving to Pakistan is not directed and misappropriated to be used against India, a friend of yours,” the minister said.
Turning to Afghanistan, he said India, one of the biggest investors there, believed there could be no military solution to the conflict and that NATO combat operations should look for a political settlement.
Keywords: S M Krishna, ISI, Taliban, Pakistan
