Karzai urges action against militants in Pakistan

7/29/2010 10:20:02 AM

KABUL – Afghan President Hamid Karzai on Thursday urged his Western allies to destroy Islamist militant sanctuaries in neighbouring Pakistan after thousands of secret US files were leaked.

"The time has come for our international allies to know that the war against terrorism is not in Afghanistan's homes and villages," Karzai told a news conference in the Afghan capital.

"But rather this war is in the sanctuaries, funding centres and training places of terrorism which are outside Afghanistan.

"Whether we are able to destroy these sanctuaries or not is another question. We will try what we can. Our international allies have this ability, but the question is why they are not doing it."

His remarks came just two days after Afghanistan's national security adviser Rangeen Dadfar Spanta called on the West to review policy towards Pakistan after leaked Pentagon documents appeared to suggest Pakistani double-dealing in relation to terrorism.

Kabul has consistently accused Pakistan's intelligence agency of supporting Taliban insurgents -- including masterminding attacks against Afghan and US-led targets on Afghan soil.

Islamabad denies the claims. Asked Thursday about the comments from Kabul, Pakistan's foreign ministry spokesman Abdul Basit said they were "incomprehensible".

"We have asked our ambassador in Kabul to seek clarification as to why these remarks have been made," he said.

Basit said the secret US military files released on whistleblowing website WikiLeaks on Sunday amounted to raw intelligence and disinformation rather than an indication -- as Kabul alleges -- of Pakistani complicity in the insurgency.

WikiLeaks released more than 90,000 classified US military files relating to the Afghan war and dating from 2004-2009, a period when tens of thousands of US and NATO troops ran into increasing Taliban resistance.

The site's founder, Julian Assange, has said the documents were checked for named informants and that 15,000 such documents had been held back.

But the British newspaper The Times reported that after just two hours combing through the documents it was able to find the names of dozens of Afghans said to have provided detailed intelligence to US forces.

Karzai condemned the release of information he said could endanger the lives of Afghan informants.

"I heard this yesterday... that names of certain Afghans who cooperate with the coalition NATO have been also revealed in these documents. This indeed is extremely irresponsible and shocking," he told the news conference.

"Because whether those individuals acted legitimately or illegitimately, by providing information to NATO forces, they are lives. And the lives are in danger now," he said.

The Pentagon has also said that informants whose names appear in the documents have reason to fear for their lives.

Spokesman Colonel David Lapan said at least one person whose name appeared had already complained to US officials in Afghanistan.

Karzai said releasing the names was "an act that I cannot overlook".

The Times cited one 2008 document that included a detailed interview with a Taliban fighter considering defection.

The man, who names local Taliban commanders and talks about other potential defectors, is identified by name, along with his father's name and village.

Major General John Campbell, who is head of the 101st Airborne Division and in charge of a key regional command in eastern Afghanistan, has said that the leaks have not resulted in any changes in military operations.

Campbell, speaking to reporters via satellite from Afghanistan, said most of the information he had seen from the leaks was "not new news".

However, he feared that any named informants would be reluctant to further collaborate with coalition forces.