Taliban defectors: US, Israel funding militants

Taliban defectors: US, Israel funding militants
Global Research, June 19, 2009

Press TV

Two militants' leaders who defected from notorious Taliban chief in Pakistan have revealed that their comrade was pursuing a US-Israeli agenda across the country.

A prominent militant leader, Turkistan Bittani, who broke away from Baitullah Mehsud, called him "an American agent".

Mehsud, a warlord in his late 30s, has claimed responsibility for dozens of devastating string attacks on both civilians and security forces throughout the feared region.

Moreover, Baetani emphasized that Mehsud was being funded by US and Israeli intelligence services for brainwashing innocent youths.

The insurgents' chief has recruited several teenagers who have carried out dozens of suicide attacks on Pakistani mosques and educational institutes over some past months.

Baetani also noted that al-Qaeda and Taliban's leadership was never targeted in the dozens of US drone strikes in the country's troubled north-west region.

Another defector, Qari Zainuddin, said that Mehsud had established strong links with Israeli intelligence services which were destabilizing the nuclear armed country. "These people (Mehsud and his men) are working against Islam."

Insurgents have stepped up their attacks on civilian and religious centers in major cities across Pakistan which has fueled anti-Taliban sentiments among the Pakistani people.

The US invasion of Afghanistan in 2001 has prompted militants to focus their attention across the border in Pakistan, turning the restive tribal belt between the two neighbors into a scene of daily violence.

The US invaded Afghanistan more than seven years ago to allegedly eradicate insurgency and arrest Taliban and al Qaeda leaders.