Spy game
October 31, 2011
The German weekly newspaper, Bild am Sonntag has claimed that Germany's foreign intelligence agency, the BND, warned its interior ministry about the Pakistani intelligence spying on 180 German police officers who were training local forces in Afghanistan.
In its report published on Sunday, the Bild am Sonntag said that telephone calls and messages to the German interior ministry and military mission orders by the German officers had been tapped. The officers had also been in constant touch with the US forces and the NATO headquarters, said the report, suggesting further that cost-cutting measures may have led several German officials to use insecure telephone lines, thereby increasing the risk for a possible loss of sensitive data to spies.
The Pakistani foreign ministry has denied the accusations. A Pakistani official described the report as "ridiculous."
Data leakage unlikely
The German BND has also denied the claims made in the report. According to a spokesperson, the interior ministry received information on October 11 which hinted at the possibility that the Pakistani Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) had received access to messages passed on between the German police and the German interior ministry. The suspicion, however, has not been confirmed. The spokesperson added that the security systems and software had been updated this September and security loopholes were unlikely.
The Pakistani intelligence service has been under suspicion for supporting militant groups to increase its influence in Afghanistan. On Monday, The New York Times newspaper reported that the US was interested in securing the help of the ISI to organize reconciliation talks in Afghanistan. Not long ago, however, the US accused the ISI of secretly supporting the terrorist Haqqani Network. The newspaper reported that US Foreign Secretary Hillary Clinton's new Afghan strategy of "fight, talk, build" was to focus on continuing air raids in militant Afghan areas, while securing the ISI's help to get militant organizations such as the Haqqani Network and the Taliban to the negotiating table.
Author: AFP, Reuters / mg
Editor: Sarah Berning