US document links ISI to Taliban, al-Qaeda

ISLAMABAD: A secret US document has linked former ISI chief Lt-Gen (retd) Hamid Gul to the Taliban and al-Qaeda.

Pakistani media reports said the two-page unsigned document had already been provided to Islamabad wherein the former ISI chief had been charged with providing financial assistance to Kabul-based criminal groups and involvement in spotting, assessing, recruiting and training young men from seminaries. The documents say the recruits are reportedly trained for attacks on the US-led coalition forces in Afghanistan. And the ex-general has been accused of assisting the Taliban and al-Qaeda fighters in developing high-tech weapons.

Gul is one of the five erstwhile ISI officials whose names Washington has recommended to the UNSC for inclusion in the list of international terrorists.

Since 2005, the paper says, Gul has provided financial and material support to the Taliban and has supported militant training camps in the Afghanistan-Pakistan region. In 2006, Gul allegedly directed a Taliban operative to head a militant training camp”. Gul denied the charges.