Pak govt failing to rein in ISI: US official

A senior US official has said that Pakistan's new government has failed to rein in spy agency ISI, whose activities were always "ambiguous" and have now become even more explicit because of "lack of supervision".     

Pakistan's new government has failed to prevent the country's intelligence agency from aiding terrorist attacks and supporting the Taliban, a state department official told the Financial Times, on condition of anonymity.     

He added that Pakistan needs to speed up efforts to control the Inter Services Intelligence after the exit of Pervez Musharraf from the country's political arena.     

"The position of the ISI has always been ambiguous [but] they may have been more directly involved in actions in more recent months because of lack of supervision," the official said, referring to "a lot of allegations" that the agency was involved in the July 7 bombing of the Indian embassy in Kabul.     

The Indian embassy attack, along with persistent US intelligence reports that al-Qaeda has established its position in "safe havens" of the restive northwest Pakistan bordering Afghanistan, has deepened Washington's doubts about prospects for military and intelligence co-operation, he said.     

Western diplomats also say that Pakistani officials were confronted with "credible evidence" documenting the ISI's role in supporting extremist groups, a charge that has been denied by Islamabad, the Financial Times said.     

US officials were also dismayed last month by the failure of Pakistan interior ministry's bid to bring the intelligence agency under its direct control, it said.