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August 2, 2008
Déjà Vu All Over Again: Pakistan Intelligence Playing Both Sides
It didn’t take long for that old Yogi Berra feeling to hit. Immediately after questions about Pakistan’s ISI’s definition of who the enemy actually is, we get a report that says the ISI is actively aiding the Taliban in bombing activities.
The conclusion (that the ISI helped plan the July 7th bombing of the Indian embassy in Kabul) was based on intercepted communications between Pakistani intelligence officers and militants who carried out the attack, the officials said, providing the clearest evidence to date that Pakistani intelligence officers are actively undermining American efforts to combat militants in the region.
The American officials also said there was new information showing that members of the Pakistani intelligence service were increasingly providing militants with details about the American campaign against them, in some cases allowing militants to avoid American missile strikes in Pakistan’s tribal areas.
So, not only are members of the ISI, the recipient of billions of dollars in U.S. aid since 9/11, not interested in helping hunt for bin Laden, but they are using U.S. taxpayer dollars to help plan attacks by our enemies against our friends.
(For a comprehensive look at the Taliban’s new emergence, see this NEFA Foundation report.)
What is wrong with that picture?
The panel before mine (which I shared with Steve Emerson), was Ambassador Dell Daily, the State Department’s coordinator for counterterrorism. In the Q&A session after his testimony, Mr. Daily was asked several times about Pakistan, and the amount of money going there, and the justification of those funds.
There was, quite simply, no answer. Mr. Daily acknowledged that new accounting mechanisms had been put into place to try to track the massive aid given to the ISI with virtually no oversight, and said they would allow “due diligence” in monitoring the money going forward.
The fundamental issue that has to be faced is that much of the ISI is composed of people who view the Taliban and al Qaeda as the good guys in this conflict. They are radical Islamists who are happy to take .U.S money, in order to protect their friends and hurt the United States. That is what they believe Allah would have them do.
No amount of visiting CIA executives or pleas to reform can achieve results. When the ISI operatives at lower levels weigh their loyalties, it will almost always be on the side of the Jihadists. It is time to realize that, and cut the losses.
The money, Mr. Daily and others argue, buy leverage. That, sadly, is clearly not the case. It simply gives the ISI better ways to plan attacks against us, warn our enemies, and hurt our friends.
FamilySecurityMatters.org Contributing Editor Douglas Farah is an award-winning investigative journalist and Senior Fellow in Financial Investigations and Transparency at the International Assessment and Strategy Center. E-mail him at doug@douglasfarah.com.
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