Pakistani ex-spy master blames US for web leak

Matthew Green and Farhan Bokhari Financial Times 07/27/2010 15:24

A former Pakistani spy master has hit back at allegations he supported the Taliban, saying the US orchestrated a mass leak of confidential files in a bid to scapegoat him for its failures in Afghanistan.

The claim by Hamid Gul, a retired general, is unlikely to gain much traction in Washington, where the publication of 75,000 classified reports by WikiLeaks, a website, has renewed debate over its Afghan strategy.

But Mr Gul’s allegations that a hidden US government hand played a role in the huge breach of classified files may resonate in Pakistan, where anti-American sentiment runs high and conspiracy theories feed mainstream discourse.

“I am a very favourite whipping boy of America. They can’t imagine the Afghans can win wars on their own,” Mr Gul told the Financial Times. “It would be an abiding shame that a 74-year-old general living a retired life manipulating the Mujahedeen in Afghanistan results in the defeat of America,” he joked. “What are they going to do to the history books for their own posterity?”

Mr Gul’s name appears in about 10 of roughly 180 classified US files that allege Pakistan’s intelligence service supported Afghan militants fighting Nato forces.

The reports, which have not been independently confirmed, allege the ISI supplied 1,000 motorcycles to the Haqqani network of Afghan fighters to stage suicide attacks. Mr Gul is alleged to have ordered roadside bomb attacks on Nato forces in 2006 and conspired with Afghan militants to plot the kidnap of United Nations officials.