Does Pakistan Urge On the Taliban

Members of Pakistan's spy agency are pressing Taliban field commanders to fight the U.S. and its allies in Afghanistan, some U.S. officials and Afghan militants say, a development that undercuts a key element of the Pentagon's strategy for ending the war. The explosive accusation is the strongest yet in a series of U.S. criticisms of Pakistan, and shows a deteriorating relationship with an essential ally in the Afghan campaign. The U.S. has provided billions of dollars in military and development aid to Pakistan for its support. The U.S. and Afghanistan have sought to persuade midlevel Taliban commanders to lay down their weapons in exchange for jobs or cash. The most recent Afghan effort at starting a peace process took place this week in Kabul. But few Taliban have given up the fight, officials say. Some Taliban commanders and U.S. officials say militant leaders are being pressured by officers from Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence agency not to surrender.

"The ISI wants to arrest commanders who are not obeying [ISI] orders," said a Taliban commander in Kunar province. U.S. officials say they have heard similar reports from captured militants and those negotiating to lay down their arms. A senior Pakistani official dismissed the allegation, insisting Islamabad is fighting militants, not aiding them. "Whenever anything goes wrong in Afghanistan, ISI is to be blamed," said the senior Pakistani official. "Honestly, they see ISI agents behind every bush in Afghanistan." The explosive accusations of ISI efforts to keep Taliban commanders on the battlefield are the strongest yet in a series of U.S. criticisms of Pakistan, and show a deteriorating relationship with an essential ally. The U.S. has provided billions of dollars in military and development aid to Pakistan in return for its support for the Afghan war and its own fight against extremists; the reports suggest some Pakistani officials are undermining that strategy.

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Militants Overtake India as Top Threat, Says Pakistan's ISI

Pakistan's main spy agency says homegrown Islamist militants have overtaken the Indian army as the greatest threat to national security, a finding with potential ramifications for relations between the two rival South Asian nations and for the U.S.-led war in Afghanistan. A recent internal assessment of security by the Inter-Services Intelligence, Pakistan's powerful military spy agency, determined that for the first time in 63 years it expects a majority of threats to come from Islamist militants, according to a senior ISI officer.

The assessment, a regular review of national security, allocates a two-thirds likelihood of a major threat to the state coming from militants rather than from India or elsewhere. It is the first time since the two countries gained independence from Britain in 1947 that India hasn't been viewed as the top threat. Decades into one of the most bitter neighborly rivalries in modern history, both countries maintain huge troop deployments along their Himalayan border. "It's earth shattering. That's a remarkable change," said Bruce Hoffman, a counterterrorism specialist and professor at Georgetown University. "It's yet another ratcheting up of the Pakistanis' recognition of not only their own internal problems but cooperation in the war on terrorism

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Vengeful new terrorist group emerges in Pakistan

Authorities now believe a dangerous new militant group, out to avenge a deadly army assault on the Lal Masjid in Islamabad three years ago, has carried out several major bombings in the capital previously blamed on the Taliban. The emergence of the Ghazi Force was part of the outrage among many Pakistani Muslims over the July 2007 attack. The fierce attack inspired a new generation of militants who have turned against a government they felt has betrayed them and, to their dismay, backed the US role in Afghanistan.

The brief but bloody history of the Ghazi Force illustrates the unintended results of Pakistan’s policy of promoting extremists to fight India in Indian-held Kashmir. The new group is made up of relatives of students who died in the Lal Masjid assault. It is named after their leader, Maulana Abdul Rashid Ghazi, who was also killed. The mosque’s adjacent madrassa had been a sanctuary for militants opposed to Pakistan’s support of the war in Afghanistan.

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Small terror groups are key challenge

Small and disparate groups of terrorists and individuals radicalized by militants over the Internet will be major challenges for the U.S. intelligence community in coming years, the nation's top intelligence adviser said Wednesday. National Intelligence Director Dennis Blair said he is confident U.S. spy agencies can detect and prevent a Sept. 11-style attack. But stopping smaller, more piecemeal attacks will be harder, he said.

"We've got to raise our game," Blair told reporters at the DNI headquarters in northern Virginia. Radicalization is becoming a bigger problem, he said, including efforts aimed at Americans attracted to extremist ideologies through the Internet. Blair's comments come as the intelligence community and other government agencies are still contending with criticism in the wake of the Christmas Day airliner attack. The incident is seen as a strong indicator of the kind of small, quickly designed plots that could pose trouble in the future.

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Leading Nigeria oil rebel disarms

The last prominent militant in Nigeria's oil-rich Delta region has given up his weapons after agreeing to a government amnesty deal. Government Tompolo, who heads the main rebel faction in the western Delta, disarmed in return for promises of cash and education for his fighters.

On Saturday, two other commanders from the eastern Delta laid down weapons. The amnesty is part of government efforts to end years of rebel attacks on the Nigerian oil industry. Militants there have claimed responsibility for numerous attacks on Nigeria's oil infrastructure, as well as kidnappings for ransom.

Mr Tompolo is considered one of the most important rebels figures in the oil-rich Delta. The rebel leader accepted President Umaru Yar'Adua's amnesty deal on Saturday, 24 hours before the offer expired.

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