When details about Gen. Stanley McChrystal’s heavily redacted assessment of the ongoing war in Afghanistan emerged yesterday, the fact that he accused Iran of having a “troubling” influence in the nation was hardly shocking. Pointing the finger at Iran in official US documents detailing foreign policy failures has become so commonplace as to be nearly cliche.
But Gen. McChrystal’s comments didn’t stop there. The Los Angeles Times is now reporting that Gen. McChrystal also accused the Pakistani government of working to undermine US interests and destablize the Afghan government.
The comments were reportedly directly primarily at the powerful Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) Agency, one of Pakistan’s many spy agencies which the US has long accused of ties with militants.
Though the comments were likely never intended for public consumption they are likely to fuel the growing US-Pakistani rift, widened dramatically after US Ambassador Anne Patterson publicly condemned the government last week for not fighting enough conflicts along the Afghan border.