UAE officials believed India supported Pak Taliban, Pashtuns

WIKILEAKS-UAE

Lalit K Jha
Washington, Dec 6 (PTI) UAE's security officials
believed that India along with Iran had supported the
Pakistani Taliban and Pushtun separatists, even as US
suggested that UAE was a source of funding for the militants,
a diplomatic cable released by WikiLeaks discloses.
The strange allegation by UAE officials is noted in a
State Department cable which reports the details of a meeting
between officials of the US Treasury Department and those of
UAE's State Security Department (SSD) and Dubai's General
Department of State Security (GDSS) to discuss suspected
Taliban-related financial activity in the UAE.
The meeting, is spread over several hours on December
15-16, 2009.
In the meeting GDSS officials noted Iran's support to
Taliban in Pakistan, adding that it believes that India also
has supported Pakistani Taliban and Pashtun separatists.
The meeting from the US side was represented by
Treasury Department Acting Assistant Secretary of the Office
of Intelligence and Analysis Howard Mendelsohn.
Mendelsohn also raised Afghanistan and Pakistan-based
extremist and terrorist groups, to include Lashkar-e-Tayyiba
(LT) and Jamaat al-Dawa al-Quran wa al-Sunna (JDQ), according
to the cable.
UAE security services were not familiar with the names
of specific UAE-based LeT members shared by the Treasury, but
promised to follow up on the information, the report said.
"DSS officials were familiar with XXXXXXXXXXXX who
reportedly provides funding to the Taliban/Haqqani Network,
according to US intelligence.
"The GDSS officials stated that they do not believe
XXXXXXXXXXXX is loyal to the Taliban, and noted that he has
cooperated with Pakistani authorities, as well as with Afghan
President Karzai," the cable said.
"They pointed out XXXXXXXXXXXX's past visits from
former Guantanamo Bay detainee Mullah Zaif, but noted that
such visits - which may have resulted in financial support -
have ceased," it said.
"GDSS continues to monitor XXXXXXXXXXXX although at
present they do not believe that he is a Taliban financial
manager," it said.
Mendelsohn suggested that he may be a pragmatist who
maintains relationships with legitimate authorities, but
insisted that the US government has information that suggests
he is still involved with the Taliban.
"During the course of the two multi-hour intelligence
exchange sessions, GRPO and Treasury analysts walked through
the previously shared information suggesting that Taliban-
related finance officials have visited the UAE in order to
raise or move funds," it said. (MORE) PTI LKJ
AVT


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