In an exclusive interview with Fox News, Shakil Afridi, the medical doctor who helped pinpoint bin Ladens Abbottabad compound before last years raid by SEAL Team 6, described brutal torture at the hands of Pakistans Inter-Services Intelligence, and said the agency is openly hostile to the U.S.
They said The Americans are our worst enemies, worse than the Indians, Afridi, who spoke from inside Peshawar Central Jail, said as he recalled the brutal interrogation and torture he suffered after he was initially detained.
How would he get access to a journalist of Fox news inside Peshawar central jail? How can a reporter question a prisoner in prison, that too a very important one like this doctor?
The ISI, Afridi said, helps fund the Haqqani network, the North Waziristan-based militant group that was last week designated a Foreign Terrorist Organization by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. The agency also works against the U.S. by preventing the CIA from interrogating militants captured by Pakistan, who are routinely released to return to Afghanistan to continue attacks on NATO forces there.
Funny how he has got really well acquainted with the ISI setup and ops from within a prison cell/torture cell, supposedly in a basement. He has some really good observation skills, or was he given a crash course by a ISI operative about the ISI ops?
Afridi said there were many militants of different nationalities, often Afghans, held at Apbarra. Arab detainees were given first-class treatment and first-class food, while some radicalized Westerners were singled out for abuse.
That is a really really dubious claim. First Class treatment to Arabs? On what basis?
The militants were told by the ISI, According to the Americans, were supposed to arrest you. We dont want anything to do with you, but will support you by letting you go. Go back to Afghanistan and steer clear of the Americans. And then they would be released.
So Mr Afridi was present when all the prisoners were dealt with and interrogated?
He was white skinned, had red hair and tattoos, Afridi said. He was a mason by profession and told me he came for jihad. He had converted to Islam five years before and had adopted the Muslim name Ismael.
Then he should have been caught. What is the problem with it?
He strongly denied confessing anything to the various army majors in the ISI who questioned him during his months of interrogation.
I was told stories about what to say as statements and forced to write statements, he said. When I refused, the major said, When we give you pain, then you will write.
I guess the major was then wearing a uniform with full ranks, and Dr Afridi is able to identify the ranl of a officer?
Afridi was reluctant to give details about how he become involved with the CIA or the vaccination drive. He said he was never aware the CIA was closing in on the Al Qaeda leader.
I didnt know about a specific target apart from the work I was given to do, he said. The house was famous for its name, Waziristan House. I was aware that some terrorists were residing in that compound, but I didnt know whom. I was shocked. I didnt believe I was associated in his killing.
His CIA handlers had advised him to flee to Afghanistan, where he and his family would be taken care of. Because he had previously been kidnapped in the unruly Pahstun tribal region that straddles the border with Pakistan, Afridi says he was too scared to travel there and decided to stay.
And because he didnt view himself as being involved in the bin Laden raid, he didnt believe it was necessary to escape. However, he was abducted by the ISI at a road checkpoint in Hayatabad on May 23, 2011, and soon found himself in a hellish existence of humiliation at the ISIs headquarters.
But he was fully in bed with ISI on this issue, and colluding with a foreign intelligence agency, especially of CIA< without informing the state is a crime, no matter what the consequences were. Period.
He was blindfolded for eight months ...
But he could still keep aware of all the conversations between ISI interrogators and prisoners. Incredible.
The doctor, who also used to act as a surgeon despite not being clinically qualified to perform procedures, said he forced to work as a general practitioner, treating both staff and detainees in the detention center.
I was told to treat patients and prescribe medicine. Mostly ISI servicemen came to me for advice and prescriptions. I was told that the ISI doctor had said that anyone or everyone could go to Dr. Shakil for medical purposes.
Fantastic. Why doesn't he open a clinic there? Why would ISI officers and soldiers come to this dubious doctor (who is alleged to have illegally operated on patients), when they could have gone to proven professional doctors of CMH and MH, with free medicine and everything free
Afridi told Fox News he helped the CIA out of love for the U.S., and swore that he would help America again despite suffering crippling torture and psychological abuse during the 12 months he was held by Pakistans spy agency.
I have a lot of respect and love for your people, he said, adding that he was proud to work with the CIA.
Busted there and then. Proved that he is an agent.
What I find most funny is that he said all this against ISI and took this much time, that too inside Peshawar Central Jail?
