The senior members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee said today that they were deeply concerned that elements of Pakistan’s government were helping to undermine the stability of Afghanistan, including the possibility that they were sheltering Taliban fighters along the border. The senators — Richard G. Lugar, Republican of Indiana, and Joseph R. Biden Jr., Democrat of Delaware — said they did not believe that Pakistan’s president, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, was involved in the destabilizing activities. But the lawmakers, citing news reports, said there was evidence that elements of Pakistan’s powerful Interservices Intelligence agency might be helping members of the Taliban and Al Qaeda operate along the border and infiltrate into Afghanistan. The senators also raised concerns that Iran was assisting the warlord Ismail Khan in western Afghanistan. Pakistan’s intelligence service is “once again either turning a blind eye to or cooperating with” Pashtun groups opposed to the Afghan government of President Hamid Karzai, said Mr. Biden, the committee’s ranking Democrat, during a hearing on the reconstruction of Afghanistan. The Taliban was composed mainly of Pashtun tribesmen from southern Afghanistan. Full Story
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