Haqqanis were CIA's "blue-eyed boy" for many years: Khar

New York, Sep 26: Striking back at the US for accusing ISI of supporting the deadly Haqqani network, Pakistan Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar said the terror group was CIA's "blue-eyed boy" for many years.

Responding to questions, Khar, who is in New York leading Pakistan's delegation at the UN General Assembly, rejected US accusations against the military-run ISI, saying it has no links to the Haqqani network, accused of the recent attack on the American embassy in Kabul.

"If we talk about links, I am sure the CIA (Central Intelligence Agency) also has links with many terrorist organisations around the world, by which we mean intelligence links," she told al Jazeera news channel.

"And this particular network, which (the United States) continues to talk about, is a network which was the blue-eyed boy of the CIA itself for many years," she added.

Responding to Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Mike Mullen's allegation that the Haqqani group "acts as a veritable arm" of the ISI, the foreign minister said "it is something that goes very, very unappreciated on our side." "This is unsubstantiated. No evidence has been shared with us." Partners and allies, she said, do not talk to each other through public statements.

Khar went to say that making scapegoats and blame games would not help. Pakistan wanted to be a US partner.

"I just hope that we''ll be given a chance to co-operate with each other and the doors will remain open - because statements like this are pretty much close to shutting those doors," she added.

Earlier Pakistan Interior Minister Rehman Malik too lashed out at the US saying "The Haqqani network was trained and produced by the CIA."

PTI