Terror groups have penetrated ISI: Riedel

Washington, Jun.6 (ANI): Pakistan's premier intelligence agency the Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) has been penetrated by some extremist groups that it had once nurtured to fight in Afghanistan and create havoc in Kashmir, US President Barack Obama's key Advisor Bruce Riedel has said.

Addressing delegates at a talk on the Pakistani intelligence agency at the International Spy Museum here recently, Riedel said there are certain reports that suggest that the ISI has links with some of the terror outfits.

Referring to the attack on the ISI building in Lahore last month, Riedel said: "When you have attacks inside fortified compounds, like the one last week in Lahore, those are being done by someone who's working a double game. But that doesn't mean the agency itself is a rogue organization. It means it's been penetrated."

Commenting on the ISI's connection with terror outfits, the Dawn quoted Riedel, as saying: "It is fighting some, tolerating others and patronizing a few."

There was no substantial proof that the ISI is cooperative with the Taliban or Al-Qaeda, he added.

He highlighted that terror outfits like the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) were cooperating with groups similar to it.

"Selective counter-terrorism is weak counter-terrorism, because the bad guys tend to operate together," Riedel said. (ANI)