Afghanistan Arrests Pakistani Agent, Liason For Al Qaida

According to the BBC, Afghan authorities say they have nabbed a Pakistani intelligence agency spy who was the agency's link to Al Qaeda.

Mr Karimi [Afghan presidential spokesman - C] named the man arrested as Sayed Akbar, who he said worked for Pakistan's controversial Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agency.

"Some evidence and documents have been seized with him proving his destructive activities in Afghanistan," Mr Karimi told a news conference in the capital, Kabul.

Sayed Akbar comes from the Chitral region of northern Pakistan bordering the Afghan province of Nuristan, the spokesman said.

The BBC's Payenda Sargand in Kabul says, according to the Afghan authorities, Mr Akbar was in charge of relations between the ISI and al-Qaeda leaders.

Officials say he has confessed to his "illegal activities" in Afghanistan. These are said to include escorting Osama Bin Laden last year from Nuristan to Chitral.

On Monday, intelligence officials in Kabul said they had arrested an Afghan army general, Khair Mohammed, on charges of selling secrets to the ISI.

Mr Rahimi told the news conference: "National security officials arrested a defence ministry general committing national treason, spying for foreigners, and he is under investigation."

Correspondents say it is not clear if the two arrests are linked. The defence ministry issued a statement saying that Khair Mohammed had not worked for it for almost four years.

There has so far been no response from Pakistan to news of either arrest.

The Bush administration has been fighting The War On Some Terror while selling Pakistan ever more weaponry, despite mounting evidence of Pakistan's active complicity in Islamist terror. I'm sure they will ignore this too. Can we have that debate now?