Pakistani links with Taliban leader Haqqani again under spotlight following CIA attack

Washington, Jan 7(ANI): The revelation that Jalaluddin Haqqani, who controls one of the most powerful Taliban groups fighting in Afghanistan, may be behind the deadly CIA bombing throws the spotlight back on Pakistan's involvement with militants operating on its soil, a report in the Times has said.

Pakistan has refused to make any moves against Haqqani, but several reports have claimed that Haqqani has official Pakistani support from top to bottom.

According to the paper, earlier in 2008, the Pakistani Army chief General Ashfaq Kayani was caught on CIA intercepts referring to Haqqani as a strategic asset and tipping off his men about a raid.

It was also found out by Afghan reporter of The Times, Tahir Ludin, when the group kidnapped him last year along with the New York Times reporter David Rohde.

Crossing into Pakistan in a Haqqani convoy, Ludin saw Pakistani border guards accept cash and salute their captors through, the report said.

Rohde later recounted how a senior commander, Badruddin Haqqani, transported them through the tribal belt under the noses of the Pakistani military, it added.

"He explained that under a ceasefire agreement all civilians were required to get out of their cars when an army convoy approached. For Taliban vehicles, though, only the driver had to get out," Rohde wrote.

"The practice allowed the Taliban to hide kidnapping victims and foreign militants from the Pakistani Army," he added. (ANI)