Pakistan seen restricting data from mullah

The Washington Times ^ | 5/1/2010 | Eli Lake

[ErnstStavroBlofeld]

U.S. intelligence officials are expressing growing concerns that Pakistan is holding back valuable intelligence data obtained from captured No. 2 Taliban leader, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar.

Mullah Baradar, who was captured in January, is the military deputy to Taliban leader Mullah Omar and he is considered the most important terrorist to be detained since Khalid Shaikh Mohammed was caught in 2003.

Senior U.S. intelligence officials in the last week told The Washington Times that recent interrogation sessions with Mullah Baradar yielded very little actionable intelligence. Instead the sessions provided "atmospheric intelligence" that is of limited value, such as the history of the Pashtun tribal regions in Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Mullah Baradar, a key operational commander, is believed to know a wide range of information on the insurgency, from the Afghan Taliban's funding network to the identities of sleeper cells, agents and financiers in Europe and the west.

"He is talking about the general dynamics of the tribes," said a senior U.S. intelligence official in a position to know. "But he is not giving us anything on the locations of senior Taliban officials. He is not telling us about bank accounts; he is not talking about the donor support base; what the Taliban's capabilities are; or who in the [Pakistani Inter-Services Intelligence service] the Taliban is working with."

Officials interviewed spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the information.

[James C. Bennett]

Pakistan = Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) = formed the Taliban = transferred funds to execute 9-11 = shelters terrorists = plays both sides = exchanged Chinese nuke designs with the Iranians and Saudis = has fooled, and continues to fool America.

History repeats. Watch out. You have been warned.