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Pakistan sheltering Taliban: UK official

* ISPR calls Vernon’s remarks ‘absurd’

LONDON: A top British Army officer accused Pakistan of allowing the Taliban to use its territory as a headquarters for attacks on Western troops in Afghanistan, reported the UK newspaper The Guardian on Friday.

Colonel Chris Vernon, chief of staff for southern Afghanistan, said Taliban leaders were coordinating their campaign from Quetta. “The thinking piece of the Taliban is out of Quetta in Pakistan. It’s the major headquarters,” he told the Guardian. “They use it to run a series of networks in Afghanistan.”

Vernon said the Quetta leadership controlled about 25 mid-level commanders dotted across the Afghan south, one of whom was captured last month. He declined to name him.

His comments echoed those of Afghan President Hamid Karzai, who blamed Pakistan after more than 100 people were killed in two of the bloodiest days of fighting since the militant Islamic Taliban were toppled five years ago.

Karzai called on Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf to bring an end to the bloodshed, which has raised fears of a comeback by the Taliban, who may have been emboldened by anti-US sentiment and the bloody insurgency in Iraq. He said religious hardliners in Pakistan were sending their students over the border to fight holy war in Afghanistan.

The Guardian quoted an unnamed British diplomat in Islamabad as backing up both Vernon and Karzai’s accusations. “Clearly the Taliban are at large in Balochistan, operating in Quetta. Obviously that’s a cause for concern,” the diplomat said. “There’s no evidence of a serious network of Taliban camps but it’s easy for them to take cover in Afghan refugee camps.”

The Times newspaper in London quoted Lieutenant-General David Barno, until recently the commander of US forces in Afghanistan, urging British and other NATO forces that are taking over from US troops to stand up to the Taliban. He said the Taliban were clever at exploiting political or military weaknesses.

“I have great confidence in the NATO effort, but as the transition unfolds (with NATO taking over more regions of Afghanistan), the key will be to maintain a strong resolve in the face of Taliban attacks,” he told the paper.

Later, an Inter-Services Public Relations spokesman dismissed Vernon’s remarks, terming them as “ludicrous”.

The spokesman rejected the British official’s statement, saying, “this media projection only reflects their own inadequacy to deal with the situation and they start trumpeting irrationally when they feel the heat”. Col Vernon should have provided actionable and real time intelligence instead of speaking to media, he said. “Pakistan has suffered heavy losses in the process and it is disappointing when such baseless statements are issued which are nothing but the figment of an individual’s imagination,” he added. Agencies

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