- News>
- Asia
Pak denies spying on German forces in Afghanistan
Pak officials have rejected a German newspaper report that suggested that the country`s secret service spied on German security forces in Afghanistan.
Islamabad: Pakistani officials have rejected a German newspaper report that suggested that the country’s secret service spied on German security forces in Afghanistan.
Without citing its sources, Bild am Sonntag had reported that Germany’s BND foreign intelligence agency warned its interior ministry that Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) had spied on 180 German police officers deployed in Afghanistan to train locals.
A Pakistani Foreign Ministry official, however, described the report as “ridiculous” and “useless”, the Dawn reports. Pakistan military spokesman Major-General Athar Abbas said the report was not worth commenting on.
According to the interior ministry, the BND suspected a German email had been intercepted but could not give confirmation. The ministry added it was not aware of any comprehensive interception of German police data, the paper said.
Bild am Sonntag had earlier said private telephone calls, messages to the ministry, military mission orders and lists of police officer names had been intercepted.
“On the basis of experience we must expect that the Pakistan intelligence agency ISI is continuing to give sensitive military information to the Taliban,” Bild cited an unnamed Berlin security expert, as saying. The United States has long suspected Pakistan, or elements within the ISI of supporting militant groups to increase its influence in Afghanistan, particularly after NATO troops leave in 2014.
Pakistan supported the Afghan Taliban before the 9/11 terror attacks on the United States. It was one of only three countries to have diplomatic relations with the Islamist group.
Citing security sources, Bild wrote that German police officers in Afghanistan have communicated in the past via non-secure means as they cost less.
“We have opened the floodgates to the enemy,” Bild cited a high-ranking Berlin ministry official as saying.
ANI
Without citing its sources, Bild am Sonntag had reported that Germany’s BND foreign intelligence agency warned its interior ministry that Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) had spied on 180 German police officers deployed in Afghanistan to train locals.
A Pakistani Foreign Ministry official, however, described the report as “ridiculous” and “useless”, the Dawn reports. Pakistan military spokesman Major-General Athar Abbas said the report was not worth commenting on.
According to the interior ministry, the BND suspected a German email had been intercepted but could not give confirmation. The ministry added it was not aware of any comprehensive interception of German police data, the paper said.
Bild am Sonntag had earlier said private telephone calls, messages to the ministry, military mission orders and lists of police officer names had been intercepted.
“On the basis of experience we must expect that the Pakistan intelligence agency ISI is continuing to give sensitive military information to the Taliban,” Bild cited an unnamed Berlin security expert, as saying. The United States has long suspected Pakistan, or elements within the ISI of supporting militant groups to increase its influence in Afghanistan, particularly after NATO troops leave in 2014.
Pakistan supported the Afghan Taliban before the 9/11 terror attacks on the United States. It was one of only three countries to have diplomatic relations with the Islamist group.
Citing security sources, Bild wrote that German police officers in Afghanistan have communicated in the past via non-secure means as they cost less.
“We have opened the floodgates to the enemy,” Bild cited a high-ranking Berlin ministry official as saying.
ANI