NDS and RAW provided funds to Taliban: former spokesman

A former Taliban spokesman has claimed that the Taliban militants were in touch with the Afghan intelligence agency and India's Research and Analyst Wing (RAW) which provided funds and set targets inside Pakistan for attacks, a charge dismissed by India.
Ehsanullah Ehsan, who had turned himself in to security agencies, said the militants escaped to Afghanistan after military operations in Pakistan's tribal region and there they were supported by RAW and Afghanistan's National Directorate of Security (NDS).
"RAW and NDS facilitated militants. India provided funds and also set targets (for militant activities)," Ehsan alleged in a confessional video released by the Pakistan army today.

He said when he objected to getting help from India, he was told by senior militant Umar Khalid Khorasani that they would even accept help from Israel to target Pakistan.
In New Delhi, Indian sources attached no credibility to these claims.
Ehsan also claimed that NDS facilitated the Pakistani militants by issuing special identity cards called 'Tazkira' for their hassle-free movement in Afghanistan.

A known face of violence in Pakistan as former spokesman of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, Ehsan joined ISIS linked Jamaat-ul-Ahrar after 2014 military operation 'Zarb-e-Azb'.
Pakistan Military spokesman Maj Gen Asif Ghafoor last week announced that Ehsan had turned himself in to security agencies. He did not share more details about the surrender.

However, Jamaat-ul-Ahrar issued a statement attributed to its new spokesman Asad Mansour claiming that Ehsan was captured on March 7 by Pakistan's spy agency ISI from Afghanistan's Paktika province, which borders Pakistan.