US spy effort in Afghanistan "ignorant": official

The U.S. military's intelligence chief in Afghanistan sharply criticized the work of U.S. spy agencies there late on Monday, calling them ignorant and out of touch with the Afghan people as reports revealed that the suicide bomber who killed seven CIA officers at a U.S. base in Afghanistan last week was an al Qaeda double-agent from Jordan.

In a report issued by the Center for New American Security think tank, Major General Michael Flynn, deputy chief of staff for intelligence in Afghanistan for the U.S. military and its NATO allies, offered a bleak assessment of the intelligence community's role in the 8-year-old war.

He described U.S. intelligence officials there as "ignorant of local economics and landowners, hazy about who the powerbrokers are and how they might be influenced ... and disengaged from people in the best position to find answers."

An operations officer was quoted in the report as calling the United States "clueless" because of a lack of needed intelligence about the country.

The report, which highlighted tensions between military and intelligence agencies, urged changes such as a focus on gathering more information on a wider range of issues at a grassroots level.

No proof of double-agent

A senior Jordanian official said on Tuesday that there was no proof that Jordanian Humam Khalil Abu Mulal al-Balawi was, as has been claimed, the suicide bomber who killed eight people at a CIA base in Afghanistan.

The official, who declined to be identified, also said Balawi had provided Jordanian intelligence with valuable information.

"There is no proof that Humam was actually the author of the attack, especially given that Taliban websites claim that it was an Afghan," the official added.

Earlier, jihadist websites said Balawi was a triple agent who duped Western intelligence services for months before turning on his handlers.

The Jordanian intelligence services, believing the bomber to be their double agent, took him to eastern Afghanistan with the mission of finding Al-Qaeda number two, Ayman al-Zawahiri, the websites and Western intelligence agents cited by U.S. media said.

But instead he blew himself up at the well-fortified Forward Operating Base Chapman in Khost province near the Pakistani border, killing seven CIA agents and his Jordanian handler, a top intelligence officer and member of the royal family.

There is no proof that Humam was actually the author of the attack, especially given that Taliban websites claim that it was an Afghan

Jordanian official

The Jordanian official said Balawi had been interrogated by intelligence officers "around a year ago because of suspicions about his activities, but the probe found nothing and he was freed.

"Humam left Jordan and traveled to Pakistan to continue medical studies that he had begun in Turkey. From Pakistan, he contacted the Jordanian authorities by e-mail and provided security information of extreme value that allowed (us) to abort terrorist operations that would have threatened the security of Jordan."

Former intelligence officials said CIA agents at the base helped oversee strikes against Taliban and al-Qaeda targets along the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan.

The security breach was a major setback to the CIA, which has been expanding its presence in Afghanistan and the second-most deadly attack in CIA history

Eight CIA employees were killed in a bombing of the U.S. Embassy in Beirut in 1983.

Humam left Jordan and traveled to Pakistan to continue medical studies that he had begun in Turkey. From Pakistan, he contacted the Jordanian authorities by e-mail and provided security information of extreme value that allowed (us) to abort terrorist operations that would have threatened the security of Jordan

Jordanian offcial