Admiral Michael Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, on a fencemending mission to Pakistan, accused Pakistan’s Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) of aiding the Haqqani militants, in an interview with Dawn (Pakistan).
The Haqqani network is a Pashtun militia headed by Jalaluddin Haqqani, who was a leader fighting against Soviet forces in Afghanistan in the 1980s, according to Global Security. At that time, America’s enemy was the Russians, not the Taliban, and so the CIA provided substantial assistance, by way of Pakistan’s ISI, to Haqqani. After 9/11, Haqqani’s militia, with a power base in Pakistan’s border region of North Waziristan, became one of the Taliban’s strongest factions, was closely linked with al-Qaeda.
Now in his 70s, Haqqani has turned effective leadership over to his son Sirajuddin, according to Reuters. The Haqqani network been responsible for numerous attacks on American and coalition forces, and group draws most of its resources from Pakistan and Gulf Arab networks as well as its close ties to al-Qaeda.
In July, 2008, a CIA assessment found links between the Haqqani network and Pakistan’s ISI. Thus, according to Mullen,
“It’s fairly well known that the ISI has a longstanding relationship with the Haqqani network. Haqqani is supporting, funding, training fighters that are killing Americans and killing coalition partners. And I have a sacred obligation to do all I can to make sure that doesn’t happen.”
The U.S. has been pushing Pakistan to take on the Haqqani network and suspected al-Qaeda sanctuaries in North Waziristan, according to an analyst quoted by Al-Jazeera, but the Pakistani government has refused, citing a lack of resources.