Washington, Aug 1: American officials have reportedly said that an increasing number of Pakistani militants, mostly hardened by years of combat against Indian forces in Kashmir, were now intruding into Afghanistan to join the intensifying insurgency against US and NATO forces.

According to them, these fighters also include those from outside the Taliban strongholds in Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA).

“When we’re talking about foreign fighters in Afghanistan, they’re primarily Pakistanis. The chief concern for US officials is Pakistani Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud,” the Daily Times quoted one official as saying.

Washington, Aug 1 : On the basis of intercepted communication between Pakistan intelligence agency ISI and militants, the US has reportedly drawn a conclusion that Pakistan’s intelligence agency ISI was behind the July 7 suicide attack on Indian embassy in Kabul which claimed more than 50 lives, including four Indian staffers.

US intelligence sleuths said the communication was intercepted before the Indian embassy bombing, but the intercepts were not detailed enough to warn of any specific attack. They also said that CIA Deputy Director Stephen R. Kappes had been ordered to rush to Islamabad even before the attack.

Islamabad  - Pakistan on Thursday denounced a bomb explosion that it said injured a policeman outside its consulate in the western Afghan province of Herat and blasted the government of President Hamid Karzai for failing to ensure security of Pakistani diplomats.

"The government of Pakistan holds the government of Afghanistan responsible for the safety and security of its personnel in its embassy in Kabul and consulates in Herat, Kandhar, Jalalabad and Mazar-e-Sharif," said a statement from the Foreign Ministry.

We hope that the Afghan government will take its responsibility seriously, it said further.

Islamabad, July 31 : PPP Co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gillani and PM’s Interior adviser Rehman Malik took the controversial decision to place the Inter-Services Intelligence under the Interior Ministry.

Sources said that the abortive attempt to put the ISI under the Interior Ministry, that created a storm in Rawalpindi last week, was meant to actually give its control to Zardari “as Rehman Malik is his most trusted person in the government.”

Not only the senior PPP leaders and the entire cabinet were kept in the dark, and no partner of the ruling coalition was taken on board in this decision, they added.

Islamabad - Military helicopters searched Thursday for a British mountaineer who went missing in northern Pakistan almost two weeks ago, but his family said they had little hope that he is still alive.

Ben Cheek, 28, from West Didsbury, Manchester, began his solo attempt on the 6,100-metre Whitehorn peak in the Shimshal Valley of the Hunza region on July 11 after taking part in a four-member failed expedition to summit a more than 7,620-metre peak in the same region. He failed to return as scheduled four days later.

The helicopter search, which started early last week, has been hampered by poor weather and was called off Monday, only to resume Thursday on the insistence of Cheek's family.

Islamabad, July 31 : If Interior Adviser Rehman Malik’s yesterday’s statement that ‘heads would roll in the aftermath of the ISI drama’ is to be given credence, the Pakistan establishment will be looking for the official, from among the secretaries working with the federal government, who was really behind the move. After Malik’s declaration, the babus in Islamabad are keeping their fingers crossed, while closely watching who would be made the scapegoat for the ISI U-turn.