Afghan Intelligence Says Foreign Spy Rings Busted In Government Ranks

Rahmatullah Nabil, the head of the National Security Directorate, said Afghan intelligence had exposed numerous plots to assassinate senior Afghan officials.

KABUL -- The Afghan intelligence service claims to have arrested senior government officials who spied for neighboring countries.

The head of the National Security Directorate intelligence service, Rahmatullah Nabil, told the Afghan parliament on August 1 that 15 government employees, including senior bureaucrats and a military general, had been arrested.

He said that some of them confessed to spying for Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence and Iranian spy services.

Nabil said Afghan intelligence had exposed numerous plots to assassinate senior Afghan officials by arresting insurgent infiltrators within the security forces.

He said that overall the intelligence service had improved its ability to uncover and thwart terrorist cells plotting suicide attacks against government figures during the past year.

Media reports noted that despite the government's claims, Taliban infiltrators periodically kill international troops and Afghan officials.