The US military commander in Afghanistan says he has evidence that factions of Pakistani and Iranian spy services are supporting insurgent groups that carry out attacks on coalition troops. Taliban fighters in Afghanistan are being aided by “elements of some intelligence agencies,” Army Gen Stanley A McChrystal wrote in an analysis of the military situation delivered to the White House earlier this month.

McChrystal singled out Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence agency as well as the Quds Force of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard as working to undermine US interests and destabilise the government in Kabul. McChrystal submitted his assessment last month, and a declassified version was published Sunday on the Washington Post website.

“Afghanistan’s insurgency is clearly supported from Pakistan,” McChrystal wrote, adding that senior leaders of major Taliban groups are “reportedly aided by some elements of Pakistan’s ISI.” The ISI has long-standing ties to Taliban, but Pakistani officials have repeatedly claimed to have severed those relationships. More recently, the ISI has been a key US partner in the capture of a number of high-level Al Qaeda operatives.

McChrystal’s comments are the first public indication in months that the United States continues to see signs of ISI support for insurgent groups. Experts said elements of the ISI maintain those ties to hedge against a US withdrawal from the region and rising Indian influence in Afghanistan.

Iran has traditionally had an adversarial relationship with the Taliban, and McChrystal’s report says that Tehran has played “an ambiguous role in Afghanistan,” providing assistance to the government even as it flirts with insurgent groups.

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