London, Oct 2: Pakistan’s intelligence agency the ISI (Inter-Services Intelligence) may have provided help to the Taliban with arms and other aid to fight against the Afghan government in 2005, besides providing them training and intelligence in specialist camps in Pakistan.

This has been revealed by a leaked Spanish intelligence document.

The secret document, marked confidential and bearing the official seal of Spain's ministry of defence, was published on the website of Spanish radio. It shows that Spanish intelligence officials had reason to believe that the ISI was helping to procure improvised explosive devices (IEDs) in attacking vehicles at a time when coalition forces appeared to be winning against the insurgents.

Washington - The top US commander in Afghanistan said Wednesday that more troops are needed in Afghanistan as quickly as possible, warning the insurgency in the country could worsen.

General David McKiernan said Afghanistan also urgently needs economic and political assistance to defeat al-Qaeda militants and a resurgent Taliban as violence in the country this year has risen to the highest level in years.

"We are in a tough fight," McKiernan told reporters at the Pentagon. "So the idea that it might get worse before it gets better is certainly a possibility in Afghanistan."

Copenhagen - Danish politicians were willing to consider deploying F-16 jet fighters in Afghanistan, if there was need for the planes, according to reports quoting them Wednesday.

The comments came in response to an article in the Berlingske Tidende newspaper where Danish Air Force personnel appeared frustrated over not being considered as an option in the Danish contribution to the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF).

"We want to be sure that the politicians are aware of our capability," Colonel Niels Svaerdborg was quoted as saying in Wednesday's edition of the daily.

Washington, Oct 1 : Ahead of the Nov 4 US presidential poll, Pentagon is planning for a sea change in the strategy for Afghanistan and Pakistan, that would encompass expanding airfields, pre-positioning military forces and equipment, and preparing for a more robust effort soon against Islamist extremists along the Pak-Afghan border.

Washington, Oct 1: CIA Director Michael Hayden has said the threat from al Qaeda is real and the group’s growing strength along the tribal areas along the Pakistan- Afghan border could be the single greatest threat to US national security

“Al Qaeda represents the most clear, most present danger, to the United States, certainly,” he said.

Peshawar, Oct 1: Denying reports appearing in the Pakistani media that the abducted Afghan envoy Abdul Khaliq Farahi was released on Monday morning, senior security officials in Peshawar have said that there was still no trace of the missing diplomat.

They said that the media reports were “false and irresponsible”, and that they might have been intentionally planted by someone.