NEW YORK – LeT terrorist David Headley’s explosive evidence about the “close alliance” between the terror group and Pakistan’s ISI had a “really damaging” effect on the US-Pakistani ties, an American investigative journalist has said.
Headley’s role in the Mumbai attacks is the subject of a new Frontline documentary A Perfect Terrorist by ProPublica reporter Sebastian Rotella.
It chronicles Headley’s journey from the US to Mumbai and reveals what American and Pakistani intelligence officials knew about him before and after his mission.
Rotella says Pakistani-American Headley gave specific evidence at co-conspirator Tahawwur Rana’s trial in Chicago about the close alliance between the spy agency ISI and the Lashkar terrorist group
“[He described] how the training works, how the funding works, how the coordinated decision-making works, and how they set out to do this attack together,” says Rotella.
“He talks about names, places, communications. He’s a gold mine for showing how this double game in Pakistan is really played.”
“It’s had a really damaging [effect] on the US-Pakistani relationship, and I think really helped change the way a lot of people in the US government see their relationship with US security forces,” he says, “partially because three years have gone by, and except for a couple of token arrests, the masterminds [behind Mumbai] are free.”
During the trial, Headley described his meetings with both ISI and Lashkar officials before the Mumbai operation.
He also described meeting a Pakistani military official at Lashkar headquarters who gave Lashkar advice on how to carry out a maritime attack.
“Because of his evidence, the US attorney’s office in Chicago indicted Major Iqbal, [a Pakistani intelligence official], which is the first time you have a serving Pakistani intelligence officer charged in the murder of Americans,” says Rotella.
