Washington, Nov 20: A senior US official has refused to publicly say whether Pakistan had purged pro-Taliban elements out of its intelligence services. Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence Directorate (ISI) is seen in the United States as the chief sponsor of the Taliban regime that emerged as a militia to rule Afghanistan until being deposed by a US-led force in late 2001.

Anxiety remains in policymaking circles here that the ISI is still backing what is left of the Taliban and helping the fundamentalist militia shelter in largely lawless regions of the Pakistan-Afghanistan border. Concern surfaced in a meeting of the House of Representatives international relations committee yesterday when California Congressman Brad Sherman asked: "Have the supporters of that ideology in that intelligence service been removed or converted?"

The top US policymaker for South Asia, Christina Rocca answered that she was unable to disclose the US view.

But Rocca did argue that Pakistan had provided excellent support for the US anti-terror campaign, after being strongarmed into joining by President George W Bush after the September 11 terror attacks in 2001. Bureau Report