CIA bomber video shows militant links: Holbrooke

A video of a Taliban leader with the bomber who killed CIA agents in Afghanistan could indicate cross-border links between Afghan, Pakistani and al Qaeda militants, the US regional envoy said on Sunday.
Special Representative Richard Holbrooke told Reuters in an interview in Kabul that "shadowy but unmistakable" links between groups exposed by the video helped explain why the United States and its allies were fighting in Afghanistan.
The video released this month showed the Jordanian suicide bomber posing with Pakistani Taliban chief Hakimullah Mehsud, before carrying out the December 30 attack which killed seven CIA employees, the deadliest strike on the agency in decades.
"When people say to us, 'why are you fighting in Afghanistan when the goal is to destroy al Qaeda and they are in Pakistan?', I think this incident highlights the explanation for what we are doing, because there are some shadowy but unmistakable connections here," he said.
The bombing took place at a CIA base in Khost, eastern Afghanistan, where Washington says its main enemies are militants loyal to Jalaluddin Haqqani, a Taliban-allied commander who shelters across the border in North Waziristan province.
The video could show "the very close links between the Haqqani group, Mehsud, al Qaeda, and it underlines the rationale for our strategy," he said. "That was a horrifying tape." "They've all claimed credit for it," he said of the various militant groups with some possible hand in the CIA attack.
Asked whether he had put more pressure on Islamabad to do more in border regions to rout insurgents, Holbrooke said military was stretched "very thin".
"I think they are well aware of the fact that the presence on their soil of the Afghan Taliban and its leadership is not in their own security interests. They know how important this is. They are our allies," he added.
"This is an immensely complicated issue and when you talk about it too much, you work against the national interests of the United States and anyone who opposes the terrorists who are still out there," said Holbrooke when asked about this.