Backlash Secret Pakistan


Backlash

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For ten years, Pakistan has said it's an ally of the West.

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Yet in a prison cell in Afghanistan,

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a captured suicide bomber alleges that this year,

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a Pakistani intelligence officer trained him to kill Western troops.

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TRANSLATION: The Pakistani man said that in Afghanistan, there are non-believers.

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We are obliged to carry out jihad.

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This series tells the hidden story of how,

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after 9/1, Pakistan deceived America and the West.

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You didn't have to be Sherlock Holmes to put the dots together.

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I told the President, Pakistan was playing a double game

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and double-dealing us.

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We did know extraordinary things -

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the Taliban sending out instructions saying that so-and-so

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should report for a bomb-making course at a camp in Pakistan.

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It's a story of how America struck back.

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The Pakistanis wised up to what was going on a little too late.

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TRANSLATION: What difference does it make if he's alive or dead?

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20, 40, 100 people like Osama die every day.

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Told by senior intelligence officials, diplomats

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and the Taliban themselves,

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it's also the story of how and why Pakistan continues to give secret support to the insurgents.

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-TRANSLATION:

-The tanks arrived.

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The first passed, then the second, the third. I fired at it.

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I frankly remember thinking, "We're dead."

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Above all, it is the story of how Pakistan, a supposed ally,

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stands accused of causing the deaths of thousands of coalition soldiers

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in Afghanistan - deaths that continue to this day.

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As long as they have fighters that are sheltered

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away from what we can do, we are limited in how much we can get done.

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It is the most secret of the many secrets in Pakistan.

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The stakes here are huge.

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Mystery still surrounds how Osama Bin Laden came to be

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hiding in Abbottabad, Pakistan.

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The climax of the largest manhunt in history has brought few answers.

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But one man has a remarkable story that he believes solves the mystery.

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His name is Amrullah Saleh and he was head of Afghan intelligence.

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It was a triumphant moment for all of us that Bin Laden was killed

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and he was killed in Abbottabad.

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It was confirmation of the fact that we believed for so many years.

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In 2006, Saleh uncovered evidence that Bin Laden

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was living in comfort in a Pakistani town.

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In the mountains of northeast Afghanistan,

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Afghan intelligence officers captured a Pakistani - Syed Akbar.

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They believed he was smuggling weapons to the Taliban.

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His interrogation produced an extraordinary claim.

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The most revealing and shocking part of Syed Akbar's story is...

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he confessed to us that he escorted Bin Laden from one location

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to another, and the information we had was suggesting Manshera

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as the town where Bin Laden and Al-Qaeda was hiding.

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Manshera is in Pakistan, just 12 miles from Abbottabad.

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Then came another revelation.

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After doing a very thorough, professional investigation,

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we found out that he was a serving officer of ISI.

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It was an astonishing conclusion.

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The ISI - Inter-Services Intelligence -

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is the Pakistani intelligence service.

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Publicly, Pakistan was one of America's closest allies in the hunt for Al-Qaeda.

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Syed Akbar, the alleged Pakistani spy,

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is in a high-security prison in Kabul.

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He denies helping escort Bin Laden.

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But Afghan intelligence believed their information was correct. Their spy chief travelled to Pakistan

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with his president, Hamid Karzai.

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President Karzai handed the information to Pakistan's leader, Pervez Musharraf.

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He banged the table and looked at President Karzai and said,

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"Am I president of banana republic?

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"If not, then how can you tell me

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"Bin Laden is hiding in a settled area of Pakistan?"

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I said, "Well, this is the information,

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"so you can go and check it."

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Now, it happens after so many years,

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that Bin Laden was about 12 miles from that location.

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Why they should be so blind of the facts of the environment within their own country?

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But in public, America and the West clung to their belief

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that Pakistan was one of their closest allies.

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PRESIDENT BUSH: In Afghanistan, America, our 25 NATO allies

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and 15 partner nations are helping the Afghan people

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defend their freedom and rebuild their country.

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A nation that was once a safe haven for Al-Qaeda

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is now a young democracy where people are looking to the future with new hope.

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Yet as President Bush spoke, the truth on the ground was different.

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British and other NATO troops were under ferocious attack.

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After 9/11, the Taliban regime in Afghanistan had been

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overthrown for refusing to surrender Bin Laden.

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Now, they were back, re-armed and re-organised.

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The losses were steadily increasing, very, very serious.

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For every soldier killed, four or five were very seriously injured.

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Secretly, British spies were uncovering evidence that

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Afghanistan's neighbour, Pakistan - and its intelligence service,

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the ISI - were driving the Taliban resurgence.

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The British ambassador to Afghanistan was receiving the top-secret intelligence.

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We did know, I mean, extraordinary things like rotas for people

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to go back on training courses to Pakistan.

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The Taliban sending out instructions saying that so-and-so should

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report for a bomb-making course. And then regular rumours - never substantiated -

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that ISI officers were with the insurgents.

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The Pakistanis deny all such allegation.

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General Athar Abbas speaks for the Pakistani military,

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including the ISI.

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All the facts on the ground, the evidence,

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they all speak contrary to this perception that the state

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or the ISI is in support of these groups, is providing

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the sanctuaries, providing the material support, et cetera.

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Yet one Taliban commander tells a very different story.

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He claims that in 2008, he was ordered to go to a camp in Pakistan.

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TRANSLATION: It was a big valley by a green mountain

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and there were no buildings, only tents.

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Speaking for the first time, the commander who fights

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under the name Najib alleges that his training was overseen

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by officers from Pakistan's intelligence service, the ISI.

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He is still fighting Western forces and hid his face.

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TRANSLATION: The military would arrive in cars at 8am and leave at 4pm.

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They were wearing military uniforms, the uniforms of the ISI.

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The Taliban commander claims that the Pakistanis

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gave advanced training to thousands of fighters at the camp.

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A Taliban cameraman took these exclusive pictures at another training camp in Pakistan.

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TRANSLATION: The military commanders gave us

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specialised weapons training, both theoretically and practically.

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And we were shown how to fire at the enemy from different positions.

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That summer, in 2008,

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Taliban attacks in Afghanistan reached their highest level yet.

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When he left the camp, Commander Najib said he used his new skills to attack an American convoy.

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The tanks arrived.

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We prepared the ambush.

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The first passed, then the second, the third. I fired at it.

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The tank caught fire and there was an explosion inside it.

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All the people were killed, and we escaped.

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In the 1990s, Pakistan had helped create the Taliban,

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to prevent Afghanistan falling under the influence of India, Pakistan's enduring enemy.

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Support for the Taliban still ran through the highest levels

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of Pakistan's intelligence establishment.

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Eventually it is they who are going to be on our borders.

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We have to co-exist with them, we have to learn to live with them.

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Can we afford to have a hostile Afghanistan on our back?

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No, we cannot.

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The collective wisdom of the nation says

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we must continue to have good linkages with the Taliban.

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It is in Pakistan's national interest,

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and I think everybody knows that it is in Pakistan's national interest.

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The Afghan president, Hamid Karzai,

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monitored the Taliban resurgence with dismay.

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He constantly warned his Western allies that Pakistan was to blame.

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Like so many things with Karzai, he exaggerated,

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he got it out of proportion, he was paranoid.

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But he was right to be worried about Pakistan.

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We were wrong to be quite as dismissive as we were about those concerns.

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But by 2008, those concerns could no longer be dismissed.

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Rising casualties meant that Pakistan's role came under ever-closer scrutiny.

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Mary Beth Long was in charge of coordinating America's policy

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with that of its NATO allies.

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It was clear,

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particularly to the soldiers

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and to the leaders of the guys on the ground, in the field,

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that Pakistani lack of critical involvement

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was resulting in deaths of Afghan police in larger numbers than probably anything,

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Afghan national army, but Canadians, Dutch, Brits and US,

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and the maiming, in particular, of even more.

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Yet, for the moment, neither America, nor its allies,

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wanted to confront the possibility that Pakistan was double-crossing them.

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Somehow, because the Pakistani dimension was too difficult,

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too enormous, we just sort of shut it out,

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and pretended that by pushing the insurgents around Helmand,

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or out of bits of Helmand, that was somehow solving the problem.

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But Pakistan's double game was about to become impossible to ignore.

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Ahmed Jawad was a shopkeeper who worked opposite the Indian embassy

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in the Afghan capital of Kabul.

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EXPLOSION

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SIRENS BLARE

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I remember being in my embassy, hearing the explosion,

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feeling the shockwaves,

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then seeing the vast pall of black smoke rising over central Kabul.

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It was a sophisticated attack, sophisticated because

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they had chosen the right time to cause maximum casualties.

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A suicide bomber had killed 58 people.

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Multiple sources of information, human sources,

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technical sources, circumstantial evidence,

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all combined making us believe it was the work of Haqqani Network.

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Jalaluddin Haqqani was the leader of the most lethal Taliban faction.

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The Haqqani group had brought

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the tactic of suicide bombs to Afghanistan.

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This was one of their attacks on a military base.

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In the 1980s, the ISI had funnelled American arms to Haqqani

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to fight the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan.

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General Hamid Gul had directed that operation.

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Haqqani's a wonderful man. He's a very, very... He is not ambitious.

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He doesn't want to rule, he doesn't want to control things.

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Those people who came in contact with him,

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they have great, high regard for him, for his character qualities,

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for his truthfulness,

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for his steadfastness, I would say.

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It seemed Haqqani's close relationship with the ISI had continued.

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Just before the attack on the Indian embassy,

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American intelligence agencies intercepted calls between

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senior ISI officials and Haqqani fighters planning a major operation.

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Mike Waltz saw the intelligence.

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Through information and a series of events,

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it became pretty clear that the Pakistanis

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were behind the Haqqani Network, which was behind the bombing.

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A question was being answered of how high in the Pakistani state this went.

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And the answer was pretty high. That, to many of us, was something that crossed the line.

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What we're talking about is a small cell in the ISI,

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never knowingly exposed to Western eyes,

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who are in touch with the Taliban, with the Haqqani Network.

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It is the most secret of the many secrets in Pakistan.

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The bombing of the Indian embassy was a turning point.

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From that moment, the NATO allies, above all America,

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no longer trusted Pakistan to fight alongside them against the Taliban.

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I think finally people had started to run out of steam, frankly.

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It became clear that whatever it was we thought we could do, we weren't getting there.

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The frustration of our inability to be effective otherwise

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turned the administration and the leadership to say,

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OK, what other tools do we have in our toolbox?

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For the first time,

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US special forces were authorised to mount secret raids into Pakistan,

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still publicly a valued ally, to hunt down the Taliban and Al-Qaeda.

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The first target was near the Pakistani town of Angoor Adda.

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I heard it in the morning, on the radio or television or whatever.

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There was news that the American forces have crossed the border,

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they have gone to a hamlet kind of a place

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and they've killed some women and children.

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US officials claim the dead were Al-Qaeda fighters.

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There was outrage in Pakistan, which continued to deny

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any involvement in the bombing of the Indian embassy.

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Hypothetically, let's say even that the intelligence had contacts

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with the Haqqanis, it does not translate to the ISI helping

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the Haqqani group to do the bombing. Those are two different things.

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I was very perturbed, because I thought that the Americans have kind of crossed the red line.

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The Pakistanis turned off the supply lines

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for NATO forces in Afghanistan.

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In January 2009, 85% of everything

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every NATO soldier ate, drank and shot arrived via Pakistan.

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When the Pakistanis turned off the supply lines,

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we went onto half rations, just about immediately.

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In response, the Americans let it be known there would be no more raids.

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The first attempt to fight back against what America

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now saw as Pakistan's double game had failed.

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A new president would take up the challenge.

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PRESIDENT OBAMA: We know the challenges that tomorrow will bring

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are the greatest of our lifetime.

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President Barack Obama's key advisor on Afghanistan

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was a 30-year veteran of the CIA.

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The United States and its NATO allies faced catastrophic

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defeat in Afghanistan, a war that was being lost,

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and being lost at a very rapid pace.

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Trying to turn that situation round was an urgent calling.

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Now, an atrocity unfolded that proved to the new president

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that Pakistan and its institutions were out of control.

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I began telling the president-elect that everything pointed back to Pakistan.

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It was a defining moment.

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GUNFIRE

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Ten gunmen rampaged through the Indian city of Mumbai,

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killing 170 people.

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The gunmen were from a Pakistani militant group, Lashkar-e-Taiba.

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This had the signature of Lashkar-e-Taiba all over it,

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from the very moment the attacks began,

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and once you linked it back to Lashkar-e-Taiba,

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you linked it back to the Pakistani intelligence service.

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Pakistani intelligence, the ISI, had founded Lashkar-e-Taiba to fight its arch-enemy, India.

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But Pakistan claimed it had nothing to do with the Mumbai attack.

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I said obviously even we understand

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that there were links back with Pakistan,

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there's no two things about it.

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But then linking it with the government, the ISI?

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That is where we disagree, and we say no, there were no links.

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The CIA later received intelligence that is said showed the ISI

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were directly involved in training the Mumbai gunmen.

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President Obama had already decided to act.

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The phone rang and a familiar voice came on and said,

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"Hi, Bruce, it's Barack. I have an offer for you."

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Riedel was asked to investigate the secret Pakistan,

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hidden from the West.

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He reviewed every scrap of intelligence America had

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about Pakistan's involvement with terrorist groups and, above all, the Taliban.

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Our own intelligence was unequivocal.

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In Afghanistan, we saw an insurgency that was not only getting

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passive support from the Pakistani army

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and the Pakistani intelligence service, the ISI, but getting active support.

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Pakistan was raising money, it was training the Taliban,

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even sending in experts with the Taliban for attacks on NATO forces.

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In Riedel's opinion, the powerful ISI was the key player.

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It operates from this headquarters in Islamabad.

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The ISI is part of the military. Its agents are mostly soldiers

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and it's always commanded by a senior general.

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The ISI is a professional intelligence agency.

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People don't go blowing up other countries' embassies

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or giving guns and money to terrorists

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without the authority of the head of the Pakistani army - chief of army staff.

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The notion that the ISI is some kind of rogue organisation is a myth.

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In March 2009, on board Air Force One,

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Bruce Riedel presented his findings to President Obama.

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I spoke pretty much nonstop for about 45 minutes

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and then we spent an hour, hour-and-a-half, talking about it.

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I told the President that Pakistan was double-dealing us

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and that the Pakistanis had been double-dealing the United States and its allies

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for years and years, and they were probably going to continue to do so.

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Even as Bruce Riedel was briefing President Obama,

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one American was gaining a remarkable insight

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into the relationship between Pakistan and the Taliban.

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David Rohde was a senior correspondent for the New York Times.

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He had arranged an interview with a Taliban commander,

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south of the Afghan capital, Kabul.

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We rounded a corner

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and there was a car blocking the road in front of us.

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We stopped, two gunmen rounded our vehicle,

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they've each got a Kalashnikov, they're shouting commands.

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And then these two Taliban gunmen jump in the front seat

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and they start speeding down the road.

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For days, the kidnappers drove across Afghanistan,

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evading the US and Afghan forces hunting them.

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We were moved into this new car and it struck me

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immediately that we started driving down the left-hand side of the road.

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David Rohde was in Pakistan, in the border province of North Waziristan.

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What shocked and deeply depressed me

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was that all along the main highway, every single Pakistani check post

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that should have been manned by some sort of Pakistani security force

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had been completely abandoned and, instead of Pakistani soldiers,

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or militia standing there, it was a young Taliban with a Kalashnikov.

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There were Taliban road crews repairing the local roads,

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there were Taliban police cruising around,

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and I frankly remember thinking, you know, we're dead.

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Rohde had been abducted by the Haqqani Network,

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the Taliban faction headed by Jalaluddin Haqqani,

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the man believed to be behind the bombing of the Indian embassy.

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For seven months, Rohde was moved between different safe houses.

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Once, he was being driven by Haqqani's son when they encountered a Pakistani army convoy.

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Badruddin Haqqani stepped out of the vehicle and he actually waved at the Pakistani soldiers.

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He got back into the car and explained

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there was a truce between the Taliban and the Pakistani army

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and that Taliban vehicles had to pull over and only the driver had to get out, and that was it.

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Rohde was eventually imprisoned in the Pakistani town of Miranshah.

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When we were held in Miranshah, my guards actually took

0:29:050:29:08

bomb-making classes from Uzbek militants that were in this town.

0:29:080:29:13

These enormous explosions would go off in the middle of town,

0:29:130:29:17

as part of these classes, and there was a local Pakistani

0:29:170:29:19

military base and the Pakistanis never came off the base

0:29:190:29:24

to investigate what was happening in the town.

0:29:240:29:27

He and his translator devised a plan to escape.

0:29:290:29:32

One night, their guards fell asleep, and they saw their chance.

0:29:350:29:40

I remember whispering to my Afghan colleague and he said,

0:29:400:29:43

"Go get the rope."

0:29:430:29:45

Together, they climbed over the wall and crept through the sleeping town.

0:29:510:29:56

They reached the Pakistani army base in the centre of Miranshah.

0:29:570:30:02

The captain in charge quickly had them flown to safety.

0:30:020:30:06

Later, Pakistani intelligence, the ISI, arrived to investigate.

0:30:090:30:12

Rohde learned the agents did not arrest his Taliban kidnappers from the Haqqani Network.

0:30:120:30:19

Instead, they tried to discover how he had escaped.

0:30:190:30:22

The Haqqanis took the guards who were asleep that night

0:30:240:30:28

when we escaped and handed them to over to the ISI,

0:30:280:30:30

to Pakistani military intelligence.

0:30:300:30:32

And the ISI then tortured our guards very badly,

0:30:320:30:36

and the question the ISI asked him wasn't why did you kidnap

0:30:360:30:40

this unarmed American journalist after inviting him to an interview?

0:30:400:30:44

Instead, the question the ISI kept asking the guard was,

0:30:440:30:47

"Did your family get paid a ransom and you cheated the Haqqanis out of the money?"

0:30:470:30:52

US diplomats added David Rohde's experiences to the charge sheet against Pakistan.

0:30:540:30:59

We would raise these issues in Pakistan

0:30:590:31:02

in very subtle ways and say,

0:31:020:31:04

well, you know, how could it be possible that the Haqqanis

0:31:040:31:07

are in Miranshah

0:31:070:31:09

and there is a military compound just down the road?

0:31:090:31:12

And let the Pakistanis basically, you know, stew in this.

0:31:120:31:16

Pakistan insisted it WAS battling extremism.

0:31:210:31:25

By now, its cities were under attack from Pakistani militant groups who wanted to overthrow the government.

0:31:250:31:32

They accused it of going too far to appease the Americans.

0:31:350:31:40

In 2009, they launched 60 suicide attacks, killing over 2,000 civilians.

0:31:400:31:46

One militant, now in jail in Karachi,

0:31:510:31:54

reveals the savagery of the struggle.

0:31:540:31:58

He recruited children to be suicide bombers.

0:31:590:32:02

TRANSLATION: Young boys are easier to prepare than older men.

0:32:040:32:08

We are good friends to them, teach them and then brainwash them.

0:32:080:32:13

We also use them to raise funding.

0:32:130:32:16

I have sent five boys to the jihad. Three of them were killed.

0:32:190:32:24

In spring 2009, the militants, who called themselves the Pakistani Taliban,

0:32:270:32:33

had advanced to within 60 miles of the capital, Islamabad.

0:32:330:32:38

The Pakistani army launched a ferocious counter-offensive.

0:32:380:32:42

We have around 5,000 officers and soldiers who have given their lives.

0:32:550:33:01

We have over 9,000 people

0:33:010:33:04

who are with serious injuries. Many of them have lost their limbs.

0:33:040:33:08

But, to American frustration, the Pakistani military

0:33:100:33:14

had not confronted the Afghan Taliban fighters,

0:33:140:33:17

who continued to attack the Americans in Afghanistan.

0:33:170:33:21

My response was, "Listen, people,

0:33:260:33:29

"there's so many people we can take on,

0:33:290:33:33

"and we can't take on the whole world.

0:33:330:33:35

"Why should Pakistan go after an Afghan Taliban group which is

0:33:350:33:41

"not doing anything against Pakistan, just because the US says?"

0:33:410:33:44

It doesn't work that way.

0:33:440:33:47

By the end of 2009, America feared it might be defeated in Afghanistan.

0:33:510:33:56

PRESIDENT OBAMA: I have determined that it is in our vital national interest

0:33:560:34:01

to send an additional 30,000 US troops to Afghanistan.

0:34:010:34:05

The US administration hoped its determination would persuade

0:34:050:34:10

Pakistan to stop giving sanctuary and aid to the Afghan Taliban.

0:34:100:34:14

PRESIDENT OBAMA: After 18 months, our troops will begin to come home.

0:34:190:34:24

Yet President Obama's deadline meant the Taliban believed victory was in reach.

0:34:240:34:31

One Taliban commander, Najib,

0:34:330:34:35

alleges that after Obama's announcement, the support he received actually increased.

0:34:350:34:41

TRANSLATION: Because Obama put more troops into Afghanistan

0:34:450:34:50

and increased the operations here, so Pakistan support for us increased as well.

0:34:500:34:56

It increased a great deal.

0:34:590:35:01

He described the contents of a single supply truck

0:35:050:35:08

he claims the Pakistanis delivered to his group.

0:35:080:35:11

500 land mines with remote controls,

0:35:140:35:17

20 rocket-propelled grenade launchers...

0:35:170:35:22

with 2,000 to 3,000 grenades.

0:35:220:35:26

They brought AK-47s, machine guns and rockets.

0:35:280:35:32

To this day, the supplies have had a dramatic effect

0:35:360:35:40

on his unit's fighting strength.

0:35:400:35:42

Eight years ago, we were a group of 30 people, without even ten AK-47s.

0:35:440:35:50

Today, we are still 30 people, but we have 30 AK-47s,

0:35:500:35:55

ten rocket-propelled grenade launchers and ten machine guns.

0:35:550:35:59

I believe in the last eight years, we have grown by about 80%.

0:36:040:36:10

NATO began to use its extra forces in a vast campaign

0:36:130:36:17

to kill or capture Taliban commanders inside Afghanistan.

0:36:170:36:22

Mike Waltz had left the White House to deploy with

0:36:220:36:25

US Special Forces on the border between Pakistan and Afghanistan.

0:36:250:36:30

He claims the Pakistani military actively aided the Taliban.

0:36:300:36:35

When we were operating near a Pakistani military post,

0:36:350:36:38

they would often flash signal lights and we could see them

0:36:380:36:41

from ridge line to ridge line, then a series of signals and then,

0:36:410:36:46

mysteriously, the folks we thought we were going to interact with

0:36:460:36:50

were gone.

0:36:500:36:52

The Pakistani military was clearly signalling with folks

0:36:520:36:55

up in the mountains, which we knew were insurgents.

0:36:550:37:00

Yes, yes!

0:37:020:37:04

America wanted to take the fight into the Taliban sanctuaries.

0:37:060:37:10

During his investigation of Pakistan's double game,

0:37:140:37:18

Bruce Riedel had been told by the president to consider every option.

0:37:180:37:24

We could invade Pakistan, we could go to war,

0:37:240:37:26

we could compel it to change its behaviour.

0:37:260:37:29

It sounds ridiculous,

0:37:290:37:30

but we'd already invaded two Muslim countries in the last eight years - we could invade another one.

0:37:300:37:35

Except that this country has the fastest-growing nuclear arsenal in the world.

0:37:350:37:41

Instead, Obama turned to one of America's most secret weapons...

0:37:450:37:49

..bombing Pakistan with unmanned drones.

0:37:540:37:57

While held captive, the journalist David Rohde experienced the new tactic.

0:37:580:38:03

One of the most dangerous days was when there was a drone strike,

0:38:030:38:07

just roughly 50 to 100 yards from our house.

0:38:070:38:09

It was enormous, it shook the walls of the house we were in.

0:38:090:38:14

The drone strike had killed seven militants,

0:38:140:38:18

and the guards were furious. I later found out they were saying,

0:38:180:38:22

"Let's take him down to the site of the drone attack and behead him and video-tape it in revenge."

0:38:220:38:28

In President Obama's first year in office,

0:38:340:38:37

there were an estimated 53 drone strikes inside Pakistan, more than the previous five years combined.

0:38:370:38:44

At the beginning of the drone operations,

0:38:460:38:48

we gave Pakistan advanced tip-off of where we were going

0:38:480:38:53

and every single time, the target wasn't there any more.

0:38:530:38:56

You didn't have to be Sherlock Holmes to put the dots together.

0:38:560:39:01

The problem with the drone attacks is the overwhelming

0:39:020:39:06

population of Pakistan thinks they are terrible.

0:39:060:39:10

So, just because of that, I think the cost is too heavy,

0:39:100:39:13

even if they are accurate.

0:39:130:39:14

EXPLOSION

0:39:160:39:20

CHANTING: USA out!

0:39:200:39:22

Anti-American demonstrators took to the street.

0:39:240:39:29

At the start of 2011, they found a new cause.

0:39:290:39:33

In mysterious circumstances, an American, Raymond Davis,

0:39:330:39:37

killed two men in the Pakistani city of Lahore.

0:39:370:39:40

The incident would give a glimpse of a secret war

0:39:420:39:45

being fought inside Pakistan by the CIA.

0:39:450:39:48

The men were killed during rush hour, on this main road.

0:39:500:39:53

The two men died. Davis was arrested.

0:40:470:40:50

Off the record, US officials admitted Davis worked for the CIA.

0:40:530:40:57

Similarly, Pakistani officials have hinted the men he killed were ISI agents, tracking his movements.

0:40:590:41:07

Once, the two spy agencies would've quietly settled this between each other.

0:41:070:41:12

Not any more.

0:41:120:41:15

I think he should've been put to trial.

0:41:150:41:18

But, unfortunately, in the United States,

0:41:180:41:21

even the President of the United States went on the TV

0:41:210:41:24

and told lies when he said that he had diplomatic immunity. He was not a diplomat!

0:41:240:41:29

And I understood that what they wanted to do was make the Raymond Davis issue

0:41:320:41:36

so painful for us that we would not want to do that any more.

0:41:360:41:41

This is an effort by the ISI to roll back the CIA presence in Pakistan.

0:41:410:41:48

Eventually, the Pakistanis released Raymond Davis.

0:41:520:41:56

But the incident hinted at a more significant story.

0:41:560:42:00

The CIA had secretly flooded Pakistan with hundreds of undercover agents.

0:42:020:42:07

America wanted to bypass the ISI in its war against Al-Qaeda and the Taliban.

0:42:100:42:16

The Pakistanis wised up to what was going on a little too late.

0:42:180:42:22

While the Raymond Davis controversy raged,

0:42:220:42:26

CIA agents were secretly carrying out a major surveillance operation.

0:42:260:42:30

PRESIDENT OBAMA: Tonight, I can report to the American people -

0:42:320:42:35

and to the world - that the United States has conducted

0:42:350:42:39

an operation that killed Osama Bin Laden, the leader of Al-Qaeda.

0:42:390:42:44

We had located Bin Laden hiding within a compound,

0:42:440:42:47

deep inside Pakistan.

0:42:470:42:49

The news that every step of the operation had been kept secret

0:42:540:42:57

from Pakistan revealed to the world that America had lost all trust in its supposed ally.

0:42:570:43:05

To realise that Mr Osama Bin Laden is in my home town,

0:43:070:43:12

where I grew up, born, bred, studied, er... I mean, we should have known. We didn't.

0:43:120:43:18

It is definitely an intelligence failure,

0:43:180:43:22

but whoever selected that place was very smart.

0:43:220:43:28

They were living literally under our nose.

0:43:280:43:31

The relationship between America and Pakistan now verges on outright hostility.

0:43:340:43:40

There is no smoking gun at this point. But, in many ways, this question is now a dark cloud

0:43:420:43:49

that hangs over the US-Pakistani relationship.

0:43:490:43:53

Was the ISI clueless or complicit? We may never know the answer.

0:43:530:43:59

We may have to live in this ambiguity.

0:43:590:44:02

Killing Bin Laden was the reason America had attacked Afghanistan and overthrown the Taliban.

0:44:020:44:09

But in the ten years since 9/11, that war had taken on a life of its own.

0:44:090:44:16

The real military threat

0:44:160:44:18

is the Taliban, is a serious insurgency

0:44:180:44:21

that's got nothing to do with Bin Laden.

0:44:210:44:25

Bin Laden, in operational terms, is utterly, spectacularly irrelevant.

0:44:250:44:30

TRANSLATION: What difference does it make if he's alive or dead?

0:44:430:44:48

20, 40, 100 people like Osama die every day.

0:44:480:44:51

Mullah Azizullah claims Pakistan's support for his insurgent group has not wavered.

0:44:540:44:59

We planted land mines on the road.

0:45:030:45:06

The convoy was heading towards Nerkh.

0:45:060:45:10

This propaganda video, shot earlier this year,

0:45:110:45:15

is one of many showing similar operations.

0:45:150:45:18

The person who was responsible detonated the mine.

0:45:200:45:23

He destroyed the tank and its crew.

0:45:280:45:31

This is one place where Mullah Azizullah's claims can be put to the test.

0:45:390:45:44

The Afghan province of Paktika borders the Pakistani

0:45:510:45:54

sanctuaries of some of the Taliban's most lethal factions.

0:45:540:45:59

Forward Operating Base Tillman is right on the border.

0:46:010:46:04

It is the home of D Company, of the American 101st Airborne Division.

0:46:060:46:11

Most days, the base comes under rocket fire,

0:46:140:46:17

sometimes from Afghanistan, sometimes Pakistan.

0:46:170:46:22

The soldiers are authorised to fire into Pakistan

0:46:220:46:27

if their lives are threatened.

0:46:270:46:29

The remoteness of the base and the presence of Taliban fighters

0:46:320:46:36

means supplies have to be brought in by air.

0:46:360:46:39

D Company's mission was to stop Taliban fighters crossing

0:46:530:46:57

the border from their sanctuaries in Pakistan.

0:46:570:47:00

They patrolled what they call the infiltration routes every day.

0:47:000:47:04

After three or four hours of walking round here,

0:47:070:47:11

your legs and arms are shaking, everything hurts,

0:47:110:47:14

but you've got to keep going. No-one's going to come get you.

0:47:140:47:17

Any time we go near the border, we plan on getting a fight,

0:47:210:47:25

almost automatically.

0:47:250:47:27

They see us coming, they position themselves, hit us,

0:47:370:47:41

then they run back across the border, there's nothing we can do.

0:47:410:47:46

Did you notice any difference at all when Osama Bin Laden was killed?

0:47:480:47:52

Actually, I haven't. I haven't noticed any difference since he's been killed.

0:47:520:47:57

Since Bin Laden's death,

0:47:590:48:00

over 250 coalition troops have died in Afghanistan.

0:48:000:48:04

The commander of D Company, Captain Edwin Churchill,

0:48:070:48:10

says he doesn't get the help he needs from the Pakistani military.

0:48:100:48:15

And, that as long as the sanctuaries remain,

0:48:150:48:18

there is only so much US forces can achieve.

0:48:180:48:22

As long as they have a seemingly endless supply of equipment

0:48:220:48:26

and fighters, better sheltered, away from what we can do,

0:48:260:48:30

we are limited in how much we can get done.

0:48:300:48:34

They're not the only ones getting hurt, wounded and killed in the process.

0:48:340:48:38

For the moment, a military resolution

0:48:540:48:56

to the conflict in Afghanistan is beyond the reach of either side.

0:48:560:49:01

Talking may be the only way to end the war,

0:49:020:49:05

and the death of Bin Laden has raised hopes that talks could succeed.

0:49:050:49:11

For two decades, Michael Semple worked for the UN in Afghanistan.

0:49:140:49:20

He has remarkable contacts with Taliban commanders.

0:49:200:49:24

I've heard directly from senior Taliban

0:49:240:49:27

that the removal of Osama will make an eventual deal much easier

0:49:270:49:32

to achieve, because the US demand for the handover of Osama has been

0:49:320:49:38

item one on their agenda for dealing with the Taliban,

0:49:380:49:43

which ensured they never got to any item two, three or four.

0:49:430:49:49

The most difficult item, the one the Taliban felt unable to deal with,

0:49:490:49:53

has just been taken off the agenda.

0:49:530:49:55

The man who is currently Britain's top diplomat to Afghanistan

0:49:580:50:02

and Pakistan testifies that cautious contacts are being made.

0:50:020:50:06

What we have are some channels of communication open, some directly

0:50:060:50:10

between the Afghan government

0:50:100:50:12

and members of the Taliban leadership, and some others too,

0:50:120:50:15

involving some international figures.

0:50:150:50:18

It's at a very early and delicate stage,

0:50:180:50:21

but I think there are genuine channels of communication.

0:50:210:50:25

Those who claim that Pakistan's hidden hand has shaped

0:50:250:50:28

the conflict fear the same is true of negotiations.

0:50:280:50:32

Last year, in the Pakistani city of Karachi, Mullah Baradar,

0:50:350:50:39

the Taliban's second in command, was captured by the ISI.

0:50:390:50:43

Secretly, Baradar had made contact with the Afghan government

0:50:450:50:49

to discuss a deal that would end the war.

0:50:490:50:52

He had done so without the ISI's permission.

0:50:520:50:55

The story I heard was that the Pakistanis were able to find

0:50:580:51:02

and detain Baradar and their motive in doing so was to bring him back

0:51:020:51:06

under control and to send a message that if you want to do a deal,

0:51:060:51:13

you have to do it with Pakistan, you can't plough an independent furrow.

0:51:130:51:18

Taliban commanders who want negotiations fear retaliation,

0:51:200:51:24

not only from more hardline comrades, but also from Pakistan.

0:51:240:51:30

Hawa Nooristani is a member of the High Peace Council,

0:51:300:51:34

a group set up by the Afghan government to reach out to the Taliban.

0:51:340:51:40

In September, its leader was assassinated by a suicide bomber.

0:51:400:51:45

Recently, in Kabul, she went to a secret meeting.

0:52:030:52:07

Waiting for her was a commander in the Haqqani Network.

0:52:210:52:25

To her astonishment,

0:52:270:52:28

he said he wanted to talk with the Afghan government.

0:52:280:52:32

He said it was vital Pakistan intelligence knew nothing of the meeting.

0:52:430:52:48

Well, I've certainly heard stories that pressure of that kind has been put on Taliban leaders.

0:53:080:53:15

It's very difficult to know to what extent it is true, but, of course,

0:53:150:53:18

like any country, they don't want a neighbour that is anything other than friendly to them.

0:53:180:53:23

The ISI can certainly spoil any negotiations process.

0:53:230:53:28

So far, there's very little sign that I've seen

0:53:290:53:32

that Pakistan is interested in a political deal.

0:53:320:53:36

There are claims that the ISI are pressing the Taliban to intensify their military campaign.

0:53:390:53:45

In the cells of the Afghan intelligence service

0:53:480:53:52

is a prisoner who alleges he was recruited by the ISI

0:53:520:53:55

earlier this year and trained to be a suicide bomber.

0:53:550:53:59

Even though he is in prison, he still fears for his life.

0:53:590:54:03

TRANSLATION: The ISI buy boys from poor families.

0:54:050:54:10

The young man alleges that preparations for his mission

0:54:110:54:16

were overseen by an ISI officer in a camp in Pakistan.

0:54:160:54:19

In the morning, we were taken for training.

0:54:210:54:24

The Pakistani man said that in Afghanistan, there are non-believers.

0:54:240:54:29

We are obliged to carry out jihad.

0:54:290:54:31

After 15 days' training, he was ready to head to Afghanistan.

0:54:330:54:37

There were three of us.

0:54:390:54:41

We were put into a black vehicle, with black windows.

0:54:410:54:45

The police did not stop the car, because it was obviously ISI.

0:54:460:54:51

No-one dares stop their cars.

0:54:510:54:56

We drove Landi Kotal, towards a mountain.

0:54:560:55:00

The driver left us at first light.

0:55:030:55:06

We walked the entire night, taking short breaks.

0:55:060:55:10

At 8am, someone was waiting for us in the mountains near Jalalabad.

0:55:140:55:19

They told me, "Find some police, or Afghan National Army."

0:55:230:55:27

"Come for lunch, and you will receive your explosive waistcoat and then go and explode it."

0:55:280:55:35

But I didn't want to do it,

0:55:380:55:40

because my father is dead and my brothers are all younger than me.

0:55:400:55:45

We are all Muslims, and this would have ruined my life in this world and the next.

0:55:460:55:52

The young man's claims cannot be verified.

0:55:560:55:59

Dozens of suicide attacks have been carried out in 2011,

0:56:030:56:08

celebrated in Taliban videos like this one.

0:56:080:56:12

In this series, Taliban commanders have revealed the vital role

0:56:500:56:55

Pakistan has played and still plays in the battle for Afghanistan.

0:56:550:57:00

TRANSLATION: Pakistan plays a significant role.

0:57:000:57:04

First, they support us by providing a place to hide.

0:57:040:57:08

Secondly, they provide us with weapons.

0:57:080:57:10

In the coming months and years, Pakistan's hidden hand will shape

0:57:100:57:15

the conflict in Afghanistan and the attempts to bring it to an end.

0:57:150:57:20

We cannot disregard our long-term interests, because this is our own area.

0:57:200:57:25

The point is, history changes.

0:57:260:57:29

In history, you are friends with somebody today

0:57:290:57:32

and you are mortal enemies with him tomorrow.

0:57:320:57:35

As for Pakistan itself, there are those who fear that the forces unleashed in ten years' of war

0:57:370:57:43

may yet come to haunt the whole world.

0:57:430:57:46

There is probably no worse nightmare for America, Europe,

0:57:480:57:52

the world, in the 21st century than a Pakistan that's out of control,

0:57:520:57:58

under the influence of extremist Islamic forces, armed with nuclear weapons.

0:57:580:58:03

The stakes here are huge.

0:58:040:58:06

What happens in Pakistan

0:58:080:58:10

may yet be the most enduring legacy of 9/11

0:58:100:58:13

and the hunt for Osama Bin Laden.

0:58:130:58:16

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd

0:58:320:58:36

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0:58:360:58:40

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