Wikileaks fallout

A day after over dozens of classified US documents indicated that Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence provided direct support to the Taliban, the Obama administration indicated that Pakistan's policy on Afghanistan would have to change.

A day after over dozens of classified US documents indicated that Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence provided direct support to the Taliban, the Obama administration indicated that Pakistan's policy on Afghanistan would have to change.

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Referring to Islamabad's policy, White House spokesman Robert Biggs said, "Even as they make progress, we understand that the status quo is not acceptable and that we have to continue moving this relationship in the right direction."

The State Department said the Indian and other governments had been told about the Wikileaks revelations a day before they were made public.

The Obama Administration did not dispute the content to the war logs and indicated it shared the concerns raised by the leaked documents.

In a press conference dedicated almost entirely to the Wikileaks logs, Gibbs said, "I think the challenges that we've had and the historical relationships with Pakistan intelligence and the Taliban were certainly something we were working to address. So it's not — that in and of itself isn't a surprise."

When asked whether the logs were being considered authentic, Gibbs said, "I think we've acted as if they were."

There were indications that the present AfPak policy of the US would not be impacted by the Wikileaks revelations since the logs dated till December 2009, after which a review of the policy was announced by US President Barack Obama.

As far the Administration saw it, there "weren't any new revelations in the material," said Gibbs.

At the State Department, spokesman P.J. Crowley stated that Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari, Afghan head Hamid Karzai and senior officials of both governments had been alerted in advance by the US about the forthcoming expose.