Author: A Chalomumbai Correspondent
Publication: Mid-Day
Date: October 11,2001
Afghanistan's Taliban militia received
help in preparing their defences ahead of the US air strikes from a group
of renegade Pakistani military intelligence officers, a report claimed
today.
The group, including a brigadier
and a colonel, entered Afghanistan at the end of September with several
truckloads of ammunition, the Far Eastern Economic Review said, citing
retired senior army officials.
It said as many as five officers
from the powerful Inter-services Intelligence (ISI) agency were involved
in the operation which was undertaken without the permission of Pakistani
President Pervez Musharraf.
Pakistan halted military supplies
to the Taliban in the wake of last month's attacks on the US after Musharraf
pledged support for Washington in its campaign against alleged terrorist
mastermind Osama bin Laden.
The magazine also claims that ISI
chief Lieutenant General Mahmood Ahmed resigned after Musharraf was informed
of the operation.
On Monday, Pakistan announced a
major reshuffle of its senior army chiefs, claiming Ahmed had requested
retirement. Lieutenant General Ehsanul Haq, a former director general of
Military Intelligence, was appointed as his successor. The highly secretive
ISI is known to have carried out extensive operations in Afghanistan where
it helped to found, train and supply the hardline Taliban from 1994.
The Taliban have come under US and
British air attack since Sunday for their refusal to comply with international
demands for the extradition of bin Laden.
