by MICHAEL CROWLEY
Take, for instance, perhaps the most explosive charge, and the one which led the Times website in a headline late Sunday night: Pakistan Aids Insurgency in Afghanistan, Reports Assert. Here’s the story’s opening paragraph:
Americans fighting the war in Afghanistan have long harbored strong suspicions that Pakistan’s military spy service has guided the Afghan insurgency with a hidden hand, even as Pakistan receives more than $1 billion a year from Washington for its help combating the militants, according to a trove of secret military field reports made public Sunday.
This shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone who even skims the front pages of major newspapers. Consider, for instance, this story which appeared on page A1 of the NYT on March 26 of last year:
Afghan Strikes by Taliban Get Pakistan Help, U.S. Aides Say
The Taliban’s widening campaign in southern Afghanistan is made possible in part by direct support from operatives in Pakistan’s military intelligence agency, despite Pakistani government promises to sever ties to militant groups fighting in Afghanistan, according to American government officials.
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