KABUL, Afghanistan – The Afghan government yesterday publicly accused the Pakistani intelligence service of organizing the failed plot to assassinate President Hamid Karzai at a parade in Kabul in April.
At a news conference in Kabul, Sayeed Ansari, the spokesman for the Afghan intelligence service, said Afghan authorities had evidence of the direct involvement of Pakistan's premier intelligence agency, Inter-Services Intelligence, in the assassination attempt.
He said the evidence consisted of documents uncovered during the investigation into the attempt, confessions from 16 suspects detained after the attack and cell phone contacts. He gave no further details or names of officials within the Pakistani agency who might have been involved.
“Based on the investigation of the case and documents we found, as well as confessions by suspects we arrested, they show that the real schemers and organizers of the terrorist attack” on the celebratory parade April 27 are “the intelligence organization of Pakistan, ISI, and its associates, which committed unforgivable crimes.”
There was no immediate public response from Pakistan, and spokesmen for the ISI and the Foreign Ministry did not return telephone calls for comment.
Tension between the countries has been rising. Last week, Karzai threatened to send soldiers into Pakistan to fight Islamic militant groups operating in the border areas to attack Afghanistan.
