The chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff Mike Mullen has accused Pakistan's intelligence service of supporting violent extremism in Afghanistan.
The Taliban attacked Kabul's embassy district last week
The US military's top officer has accused Pakistan of "exporting" violent extremism to Afghanistan by allowing militants to act as an "arm" of its intelligence service.
In an unprecedented public condemnation of Pakistan, Admiral Mike Mullen said the country's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) was actively supporting Haqqani network extremists, who he said have targeted US forces in Afghanistan.
He said: "In choosing to use violent extremism as an instrument of policy, the government of Pakistan - and most especially the Pakistani Army and ISI - jeopardises not only the prospect of our strategic partnership, but also Pakistan's opportunity to be a respected nation with legitimate regional influence.
"By exporting violence, they have eroded their internal security and their position in the region. They have undermined their international credibility and threatened their economic well-being."
His comments follow a series of tough warnings from top US officials on Pakistan's approach to Islamist militants.
Admiral Mullen, who steps down this month as chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, also said "the Haqqani network ... acts as a veritable arm of Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence Agency".
The Haqqani network is one of three - and perhaps the most feared - allied insurgent factions fighting US-led NATO and Afghan troops under the Taliban banner in Afghanistan.
"With ISI support, Haqqani operatives planned and conducted (a 11 September) truck bomb attack, as well as the assault on our embassy," Adm Mullen told a Senate committee.
"We also have credible intelligence that they were behind the June 28 attack against the Inter-Continental Hotel in Kabul and a host of other smaller but effective operations."
Such attacks have been a blow to the US's hopes of reaching a peace deal with the Taliban as it plans to gradually draw down the US force ten years after the war began.
Adm Mullen said the embassy attack and Tuesday's bombing that killed the former Afghan president, who personified hopes for brokering peace negotiations with the Taliban, were examples of the Taliban's shift toward high-profile violence.
"These acts of violence are as much about headlines and playing on the fears of a traumatised people, as they are about inflicting casualties - maybe even more so," Adm Mullen said.
"We must not misconstrue them. They are serious and significant in shaping perceptions but they do not represent a sea change in the odds of military success."
source
rte.ie
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