Afghan spy agency: Pakistan won't cooperate in Rabbani probe

Oct 4, 2011, 14:35 GMT

Kabul - Pakistani officials will not cooperate with the investigation into the assassination of former Afghan president Burhanuddin Rabbani, Afghanistan's top intelligence service said Tuesday.

Ahamd Zia, the deputy director of the National Directorate of Security, said: 'Around an hour ago, we received a message from the Pakistani embassy in Kabul telling us that the issue was shared with the media and now they cannot help us.'

'They told us that the case was important for them as a neighboring country and because ... Rabbani was a great personality; but they could not help us because the information was shared with the press.'

Rabbani, the chief of the High Peace Council who was trying to start peace negotiations with the Taliban, was assassinated in his Kabul house two weeks back by a suicide bomber who purported to be a peace messenger from the Taliban.

The Taliban has not claimed responsibility for the killing. The Afghan spy agency has blamed the Taliban leadership based in Quetta, Pakistan, for the assassination.

Earlier this week, Afghan President Hamid Karzai said the suicide bomber was a Pakistani national. The Afghan interior minister said members of Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) were involved in the killing.

Pakistan has denied the accusations.

'If the Pakistani officials and (ISI) have no links with the assassination, why would they avoid talking and discussing this issue with the Afghan government,' Zia told a press conference.

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