A week before the July 2008 bombing of the Indian embassy in Kabul, Polish intelligence had tipped off of a possible Taliban strike on the Indian mission, according to leaked US military documents, which also say that American ally Pakistan's ISI maintains direct links with the
outlawed Afghan group.
The leaked documents title "The War Logs", also say that ISI has set up a semi-autonomous 'S-wing' to run operations against India and Afghanistan and an official of the powerful spy agency is in charge of running suicide attacks in
Kabul.
"Taliban are planning to carry out an attack on the Indian embassy in Kabul.
TB (Taliban) designated an engineer to take this action," WikiLeaks, the onlinehistleblower, quoted the Polish intelligence warning of possible
strike on June 30, 2008, almost seven days before the attack took place.
The documents, the biggest leak in intelligence history, said the attack on the Indian embassy led the CIA's then deputy director Stephen R Kappes to immediately go to Islamabad to confront the ISI with evidence that it had
helped organise the attack. But the leaks gave no clue whether the Indians were tipped off about the impending attack.
A suicide bomber rammed an explosives-laden car into the heavily fortified Indian embassy gates in Kabul on July 7, 2008, killing 58 people and wounding more than 140.
Defence Attache Brigadier R D Mehta and Counsellor Venkateswara Rao were among those killed as the suicide bomber targeted the embassy during the morning rush hour.
"INS (Insurgents) are planning to divide into two groups: first will attack Indian embassy building, whilst the second group will engage security posts in front of MOI (Ministry of Interior), IOT (In Order to) give possibility to
escape attackers from the first group," said the warning, part of a massive leak of 92,000 documents, posted by WikiLeaks on Sunday.
"Budget for this action is about USD 120,000. The main goal of this operation is to show TB's (Taliban) abilities to carry out attack on every object in Kabul."
Suggesting that the war in Afghanistan is going badly for the US, the leaks said Pakistan's ISI was allowing its representatives to meet directly with the Taliban and fueling insurgency against the US-led forces.
Giving details of the Polish intelligence tip-off, the leak said that attacker intended to use stolen ANA/ANP (Afghan National Army/ Afghan National Police) car, and may wear stolen uniform.
"He (the attacker) speaks Dari with distinct Iranian accent. Allegedly, he is the owner of a ___ company," it added.
Advance copies of the leak were made available to three publications -
The New York Times, British daily newspaper Guardian, and German weekly Der Spiegel, which made some excerpts available.
The document dealing with the Indian Embassy is titled 'Threat Report... Threat to Indian Embassy.'
The date of information is June 30, 2008, while the date of reportis July
1, 2008. The organisation involved is "Taliban Center" and the Report number is 75010708.
Other documents strongly indicate that Pakistan's ISI is supporting the insurgency in Afghanistan, as well as plotting with Taliban leaders to assassinate Afghan leaders.
A member of the ISI, the documents indicate, is in charge of organising suicide bombing operations in Kabul.
It suggests that the man studied at Haqqania madrasa near Peshawar and revealed the general preparations to carry out these attacks including
training of the suicide attackers in the 'Ghalani camp Mohmand Ghar and Maulana Jalaluddin Haqqani's camp located in northern Waziristan'.
The report also suggests that the militants are getting help from the Afghan police.
The New York Times pointed out that it has been difficult for the US to pin Pakistan's spy agency directly to an attack orchestrated by the Taliban but the intelligence warning provided evidence of ISI's involvement.
The reports, while written by soldiers and intelligence officers mainly describing lethal military actions involving the US military, also include intelligence information, reports of meetings with political figures, and related
detail, Wikileaks said in its posting on the website.
"Taken together, the reports indicate that American soldiers on the ground are inundated with accounts of a network of Pakistani assets and
collaborators that runs from the Pakistani tribal belt along the Afghan border, through southern Afghanistan, and all the way to the Afghan capital, Kabul," The New York Times said in its report.
"Many of the documents posted by Wikileaks suggest that Pakistan's spy service may be helping Afghan insurgents plan and carry out attacks on US forces in Afghanistan and their Afghan government allies," The Washington Post said.
Behind the scenes, both Obama and Bush administration officials, and top American commanders have confronted top Pakistani military officers with accusations of ISI complicity in attacks in Afghanistan, as well as with names of
military officials working with militants, said the NYT.
Pakistani Ambassador in the US, Hussain Haqqani, however, denied ISI's role.
"These reports reflect nothing more than single-source comments and rumours, which abound on both sides of the Pakistan-Afghanistan border and are often proved wrong after deeper examination," Husain was quoted as saying.
The documents also detail multiple reports of cooperation between retired Lt Gen Hamid Gul, who ran Pakistan's secretive spy agency in the late 1980s, and Afghan insurgents battling US forces in the mountainous eastern
region of the country.
Experts, however, cautioned that although Pakistan's militant groups and Al Qaeda work together, directly linking the ISI, the Directorate for Inter Services Intelligence, or ISI with al Qaeda is difficult, The NYT said.
It added that according to reports the Pakistani military has played a double game -- "appeasing certain American demands for cooperation while angling to exert influence in Afghanistan through many of the same insurgent networks that the Americans are fighting to eliminate".
Notably, the man the US has depended on for cooperation in fighting militants, Pakistan Army chief Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, ran the ISI from
2004 to 2007, the period from which many of the reports are drawn.
The National Security Advisor, Gen (rtd) James Jones, in a statement, strongly condemned the disclosure of classified information by individuals and organisations which, he said, "could put the lives of Americans and our
partners at risk, and threaten America's national security".
He said Wikileaks made no effort to contact the administration and the government learned about the leak from the media.
Senator John Kerry, Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, expressed strong concern over the information revealed by the leaked documents.
"However illegally these documents came to light, they raise serious questions about the reality of America's policy toward Pakistan and
Afghanistan," Kerry said in a statement.