Mullen: Pakistan's ISI spy agency has 'militant links'

Adm Mullen is in Pakistan for security talks

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The US military's top officer, Adm Mike Mullen, has accused Pakistan's spy agency of having links with militants targeting troops in Afghanistan.

He said Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) had a "long standing relationship" with a militant group run by Afghan insurgent Jalaluddin Haqqani.

The comments come as he arrived in Islamabad on Wednesday for meetings with senior Pakistani leaders.

Pakistani officials regularly reject any charges of collusion.

"It's fairly well known that the ISI has a longstanding relationship with the Haqqani network," Adm Mullen told Pakistan's Dawn newspaper.

"Haqqani is supporting, funding, training fighters that are killing Americans and killing coalition partners. And I have a sacred obligation to do all I can to make sure that doesn't happen."

But a senior Pakistani intelligence official told the Reuters news agency that the accusation was unfounded.

"If he means we're providing him with protection, with help, that's not correct," the official, who wished to remain unnamed, told Reuters.

Deadly attacks

But analysts say that Haqqani's insurgent network has been based in Pakistan since 2001 and that the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) still exerts considerable influence over it.

The group has been blamed for some of the deadliest attacks on foreign troops across the border in Afghanistan.

Adm Mullen said he would raise the issue with the Pakistani army chief and other leaders during his meetings there.

He said the spy agency's support of the network remained at the "core ... and the most difficult part of the relationship" and that he would take it up with Pakistan's army chief Gen Ashfaq Kayani.

The latest comments come as US-Pakistan ties struggle to recover following the row over CIA contractor Raymond Davis - who was arrested and later released after shooting dead two Pakistani men in Lahore.

The incident prompted a wave of anti-American demonstrations across the country.

Correspondents say that anti-US sentiment, among both ordinary Pakistanis and the country's top civil and military leaders, remains high, and point to a marked decline in the relationship between the countries' spy agencies.