Leak blows lid off ISI role in Kabul embassy raid

Polish intelligence had, a week before the 2008 Indian embassy bombing in Kabul, warned of a possible Taliban attack on Indian interests in the Afghan capital with the "main goal" to show its ability to attack every object in Kabul, according to a document leaked by whistleblower site WikiLeaks.

The document on a possible attack on the Indian embassy is part of a massive leak of 92,000 intelligence reports that suggested that the war in Afghanistan is going badly for the United States and that Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence is fuelling the insurgency in the war-torn country.

Advance copies of the leak were made available to three publications -- the New York Times, British newspaper The Guardian, and German weekly Der Spiegel, which made some excerpts available.

The document dealing with the Indian embassy is titled 'Threat Report.. Threat to Indian Embassy'.

The date of information is June 30, 2008, while the date of the report is July 1, 2008. The organisation involved is 'Taliban Center' and the report number is 75010708.

'Taliban are planning to carry out an attack on the Indian embassy in Kabul. TB (Taliban) designated an engineer _ _ _ to take this action,' the document reads.

'He intends to use stolen ANA/ANP (Afghan National Army/Afghan National Police) car, and wears stolen uniform. He speaks Dari with distinct Iranian accent. Allegedly, he is the owner of a _ company,' it added.

A suicide bomber rammed an explosives-laden car into the heavily fortified Indian embassy's gates in Kabul on July 7, 2008, killing 58 people and wounding more than 140.

Defence attache Brigadier R D Mehta and counselor Venkateswara Rao were killed when the suicide bomber targeted the embassy during the morning rush hour.

'INS (insurgents) are planning to divide into two groups: first will attack Indian embassy building, whilst the second group will engage security posts in front of MOI (ministry of interior), IOT (In order to) give possibility to escape attackers from the first group,' the report said.

'Budget for this action is about USD 1,20,000. The main goal of this operation is to show TB's (Taliban) abilities to carry out attack on every object in Kabul.'

Other documents strongly indicate that Pakistan's ISI is supporting the insurgency in Afghanistan, as well as plotting with Taliban leaders to assassinate Afghan leaders.

The New York Times pointed out that it has been difficult for the US to pin Pakistan's spy agency directly to an attack orchestrated by the Taliban.

But the assault on the Indian embassy led the Central Intelligence Agency's then deputy director Stephen R Kappes to immediately go to Islamabad to confront the ISI with evidence that it had helped organise the attack.

Another leaked document, dated August 2008, identifies a colonel in the ISI plotting with a Taliban official to assassinate Afghan President Hamid Karzai.

However, there were no accompanying details and the report could not be verified.

Meanwhile, US National Security Advisor James Jones, in a statement, condemned the leaks as 'irresponsible' and said that WikiLeaks had not contacted the US government before going public.

"The United States strongly condemns the disclosure of classified information by individuals and organisations which could put the lives of Americans and our partners at risk, and threaten our national security," Jones said.

"WikiLeaks made no effort to contact us about these documents -- the United States government learned from news organisations that these documents would be posted," he added.