Pakistan Denies Supporting Taliban

Pakistani military spokesman General Athar Abbas.

A spokesman for the Pakistani military has described as "malicious" a report that alleges that Pakistan's ISI intelligence service is giving key support to Taliban insurgents in Afghanistan.

The report, issued by the prestigious London Schoool of Economics on June 13, alleges that the ISI is providing funding, training, and sanctuary to the Taliban.

"I am telling you that those are not credible sources and can't substantiate themselves in the open or by quoting themselves, so there is no credibility with unsubstantiated sources as they based the research only on these sources," the spokesman, Major General Athar Abbas, told RFE/RL's Radio Mashaal. "So this is part of malicious campaign, and it is completely a distortion of the truth. It is a falsification of the facts, and we completely reject and we don't want to really even comment on that."

The report, based on interviews with nine Taliban field commanders in Afghanistan, claims the ISI "orchestrates, sustains and strongly influences the movement."

Insurgent commanders claimed the ISI was even officially represented, as participants or observers, on the Taliban supreme leadership council.

compiled from RFE/RL and agency reports