KABUL - Afghanistan's spy agency alleged Wednesday that a Pakistani diplomat directed and funded terrorist activities carried out by a Taliban commander.
The allegation will likely further strain the acrimonious relations between the region's two key U.S. allies.
Also Wednesday, the U.S. coalition said a U.S. marine died of wounds sustained when his vehicle was hit by a roadside bomb in the southwestern Farah province while on patrol Monday.
Afghanistan's National Directorate of Security said in a statement that a diplomat at the Pakistani Consulate in the southern Kandahar province gave "orders and money'' to Mullah Rahmatullah, a Taliban militant in the region.
Rahmatullah was captured by Afghan intelligence agents on Tuesday in Kandahar city, and the information linking the official with the militants was gleaned during the questioning, the NDS said in a statement, which did not name the diplomat.
Pakistan's Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammed Sadiq declined to comment, saying he had not seen the report.
Rahmatullah was responsible for kidnappings of influential elders in the province, extortion, "guerrilla attacks and some other terror activities,'' the statement said.
"After the arrest, Mullah Rahmatullah confessed to his crimes and said he received orders and money for all terror activities and for the kidnappings from one of the members of Pakistan's consulate in Kandahar,'' the statement said.
Afghanistan has long accused the Pakistan spy agency of backing the Taliban-led insurgency. It also has complained repeatedly that Pakistan-based militants are crossing the border to launch terrorist attacks in Afghanistan.
Afghanistan -- and, reportedly, the United States -- believe Pakistan's powerful spy service, the Inter-Services Intelligence, orchestrated the July 7 bombing outside India's Embassy in Kabul that killed over 60 people, in an effort to undermine growing ties between the two countries.
Pakistan, which is suspicious of India's growing role in Afghanistan, denied the accusations.
Separately, a coalition unit killed "several militants'' and detained two others while searching the compound of a militant commander in the northern Kapisa province on Tuesday.
"Several armed militants engaged the force who responded with small-arms fire, killing the militants,'' another coalition statement said.
The troops discovered bomb making materials and "barricade-type prepared fighting positions inside the compound,'' it said.
More than 2,700 people have died in insurgency-related violence so far this year, according to an Associated Press tally of figures provided by Afghan and western officials.
