S Wing of ISI Helps Taliban Recruit from Madrasas

Governments may come and governments may go in Pakistan. 

But the ISI is forever.

Nothing, really nothing seems to stop Pakistan’s dreaded military intelligence agency ISI in carrying out its nefarious activities.

Pakistan’s intelligence agency ISI is now assisting the Taliban in widening its operations in Southern Afghanistan, according to a story in the New York Times, which also highlights the work of ISI’s S wing.

It seems intelligence operatives from ISI’s S wing are going as far as helping the Taliban and other militant Islamic organizations in Afghanistan recruit from the madrasas.

Folks, can it get any worse?

Here’s an excerpt from the NYT story:

The [ISI] support consists of money, military supplies and strategic planning guidance to Taliban commanders who are gearing up to confront the international force in Afghanistan that will soon include some 17,000 American reinforcements.

Support for the Taliban, as well as other militant groups, is coordinated by operatives in the shadowy S Wing of Pakistan’s spy service, the Directorate for Inter-Services Intelligence, the officials said. There is even evidence that ISI operatives meet regularly with Taliban commanders to discuss whether to intensify or scale back violence before the Afghan elections.

…Little is publicly known about the S Wing, which officials say directs intelligence operations outside of Pakistan. American officials said that the S Wing provided direct support to three major groups carrying out attacks in Afghanistan: the Taliban based in Quetta, Pakistan, commanded by Mullah Muhammad Omar; the militant network run by Gulbuddin Hekmatyar; and a different group run by the guerrilla leader Jalaluddin Haqqani.

….When the groups needed to replenish their ranks, it would be operatives from the S Wing who often slipped into radical madrasas across Pakistan to drum up recruits, the officials said.

6 Responses to "S Wing of ISI Helps Taliban Recruit from Madrasas"

  1. joeantony   March 26, 2009 at 3:09 am

    India was crying these facts for decades, the american ‘Intelligents’ are proving real tubelights…

    SearchIndia.com Responds:

    The Pakis are quite diabolical.

    They are milking the Americans using Afghanistan as a ploy.

    The Americans are so scared of sharing intelligence with Pakistan for fear it’ll reach the Taliban militants before they are raided.

  2. SRINIVAS   March 26, 2009 at 7:02 am

    This is the latest in India …..and there is more to come ….but our people are busy with elections …Manmohan Singh OR Advani is the question ….what India needs right now is Deepak Kapoor …

    http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/india-news/let-trying-to-push-300-terrorists-across-loc-general-kapoor_100171269.html

    http://www.expressindia.com/latest-news/LeT-warns-of-more-strikes-after-Kupwara-encounter/438862/

    http://news.rediff.com/column/2009/mar/25/guest-the-ploy-behind-kupwara-encounter-b-raman.htm

    SearchIndia.com Responds:

    Just read all three articles. Thanks.

    Key point – Indian intelligence is still very weak.

    Everything is post-facto, i.e. we are always in a response mode. Whether it’s Delhi, Mumbai or Kupwara, India seems to get moving only after the shots are fired and some poor souls are killed.

  3. aditya_k   March 26, 2009 at 10:02 am

    Its true that India’s intelligence is always reactive rather than proactive, but I have never heard of American intelligence successfully thwarting attacks like those on Indian cities…..either nobody makes effort to attack U.S. the way India is attacked, or maybe such news is kept under wraps…..btw there are many parallels between 9/11 & 11/26 intelligence failures…..

    SearchIndia.com Responds:

    1. True, 9/11 was a colossal intelligence failure in the U.S. but in India we’ve had repeated attacks not just one or two…every few months, there’s an attack.

    There’s a difference between getting whipped once and getting whipped every third month.

    It’s almost as if the collective Indian psyche keeps yelling out, Whip us. Please whip us. And then the terrorist respond with another horrific attack. Maybe, there’s a deep-rooted masochistic element in the Indian culture that likes to experience pain.

    2. You write: but I have never heard of American intelligence successfully thwarting attacks like those on Indian cities…..

    If our memory serves us right, President George W.Bush hinted on a few occasions that further attacks on the homeland had been prevented.

  4. the gora   March 26, 2009 at 6:04 pm

    US Intelligence is lampooned often but they do not get proper credit for stopping several plots.

    http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,335500,00.html

    http://www.heritage.org/research/HomelandDefense/bg2085.cfm

    Also there has always been fear in the NYC area of an attack on the George Washington bridge and the Lincoln Tunnel, especially after this plot was revealed.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_City_landmark_bomb_plot

    I personally feel extremely safe inside of New York City and generally don’t think twice about using the subway system. But I do get quite nervous whenever I am driving through the Lincoln Tunnel to get into the city or the GWB.

    SearchIndia.com Responds:

    Good sources on the attacks thwarted. Thanks.

    We usually take the Lincoln Tunnel into NYC and have never felt uneasy.

  5. aditya_k   March 27, 2009 at 2:24 am

    Gora, good links,thanks….I can’t even remember the last time I travelled on a local train without feeling insecure…Mumbai was once famous for its people being indifferent towards what the next guy was upto…..today it has turned into a city of ever-suspecting,scared people……

    SearchIndia.com Responds:

    Offtopic: Were you part of the Damodar Acharya lynch mob that attacked his house? 😉

    Sad to hear about the young kid’s death. Looks like there were multiple incidents at the institute.

    Since it’s an IIT, we now have Former SC judge Bannerjee probing the student’s death.

    Thousands die every day in India because of lack of medical care. Nobody cares.

    Who says society is just.

  6. aditya_k   March 27, 2009 at 3:09 pm

    yup…I had gone there…. I suspect there was an element of fear involved as well….you see, if tomorrow I slip a staircase and crack my skull, or even fall off my cycle, there is nobody to save me…..even worse,if I am in the late stages of malaria or dengue, I can’t be cured even in Kolkata….As for the promises made, they will be forgotten quickly, as they have been for the past three years, when students had first proposed to have an upgrade of of BC roy hospital….

    SearchIndia.com Responds:

    If things are that bad 100 miles from Kolkata, how much worse it must be in Jharkand, Bihar et al.

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