Afghan security officials check vehicle at the checkpoint on a roadside in Kabul, yesterday

Afghanistan security forces have detained five insurgents with massive quantities of explosives intended for use in attacks on crowded areas of Kabul and linked them to Pakistan-based militants, an intelligence spokesman said yesterday.
The alleged connection to militants in Pakistan will likely step up the pressure on Islamabad, after a recent co-ordinated assault by insurgents on diplomatic and government areas in Kabul and elsewhere put the spotlight on the South Asian nation.
“It could have caused large-scale bloodshed,” National Directorate of Security (NDS) spokesman Shafiqullah Tahiri told a news conference. 
“Three Pakistani terrorists and two of their Afghan collaborators who placed the explosives under bags of potatoes in a truck were caught.”
The 10 tonnes of explosives were stuffed into 400 bags and hidden under piles of potatoes in the back of a Pakistan-registered truck on Kabul’s outskirts, said Tahiri.
The US Ambassador to Afghanistan, Ryan Crocker, said there was “no question” that the Haqqani network, which Washington believes is based in Pakistan’s North Waziristan region, mounted last weekend’s 18- hour rocket and gunfire operation in Kabul.
Crocker called on Pakistan to crack down on the Haqqanis and said the response to that demand would influence future ties between the strategic allies.
Relations have been heavily strained by a series of events, including the unilateral US special forces raid that killed Osama bin Laden on Pakistani soil in May of last year.
Pakistan has denied accusations that its military spy agency sees the Haqqanis as a counterweight to the growing influence of rival India in Afghanistan. 
Tahiri said the five men confessed to receiving training from Noor Afzal and Mohamed Omar, who he identified as key commanders of the Pakistani Taliban and Pakistan intelligence.
Video footage released by NDS to media showed the detained men, including the alleged Pakistanis, talking about where they came from while sitting against a blank white wall. 
A Pakistani intelligence official declined comment on the accusations, while Afghan officials were not immediately available to give additional information.
While the Pakistani Taliban co-operate with the Afghan Taliban, they are sworn enemies of the US-backed Islamabad government and have mounted suicide bombings against Pakistani intelligence officials and security forces.
It’s still not clear whether the confessions will create a new crisis in relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan. Reuters