Pakistan News and Discussion-8

[Guest]

<b>Ex-ISI officials may be helping Taliban: Musharraf</b><!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->WASHINGTON: Pakistan's intelligence service has not aided renegade Taliban fighters in Afghanistan, but retired intelligence officials could be involved in their support, President Pervez Musharraf told a US television channel on Sunday.

Asked whether the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) had been helping the ousted Taliban, Musharraf, speaking on NBC television's Meet the Press programme, answered with an emphatic “no”.

"Nobody in the ISI has," he said. However, he added, <b>"I have some reports that some dissidents, some people, retired people who were in the forefront in ISI during the period of ’79 to ’89 may be assisting with their links somewhere here and there," he said."We are keeping a very tight watch and we'll get a hold of them if at all that happens."</b> <!--emo&--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/biggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif' /><!--endemo-->

The president expressed concern that current support for the Taliban may be more widespread than many observers are aware. <b>"They don't know the realities on (the) ground. They're not conscious of the reality I'm seeing -- the extreme danger of this becoming a people's movement,"</b> he said. <!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
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