"A FRIEND OF OSAMA AND THE CIA"

Khalid Khawaja, reportedly a friend of Osama bin Laden and the CIA.

Khalid Khawaja used to fly Osama bin Laden's personal plane. (Khalid Khawaja)

Khalid Khawaja once worked for ISI, the Pakistan spy agency.

In April 2010, in Pakistan, the body of Khalid Khawaja was found on a roadside with a warning note to other "American spies". (Pakistani news presenter accused of link to Taliban hostage's murder‎)

There is a leaked audio tape of what appears to be phone conversation between a top Pakistani journalist, Hamid Mir, and a Taliban spokesman.

The conversation is about the fate of Khalid Khawaja, who was being being held by the Taliban. (Pakistani news presenter accused of link to Taliban hostage's murder‎)

In the tape Mir describes Khawaja as a CIA asset and accuses him of playing a treacherous role in the 2007 Red Mosque siege.

In that siege, more than 100 people were killed. (Siege of Lal Masjid - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)



In the leaked audio tape, Mir makes allegations about Khawaja working for the CIA and not ISI (Editorial: Shocking revelations)

"He then went on to strengthen his allegation by citing incidents from the past and how close Khawaja was to former CIA chief William Casey and a character called Mansoor Ejaz.

"Mir alleges that Ejaz could have been an Israeli agent since he tried to persuade Benazir Bhutto to recognise Israel when she was in power."

Transcript of Hamid Mir's conversation

The puzzling thing is that Khalid Khawaja seemed to have turned against the powers-that-be.

In 2005, Khalid Khawaja told Asia Times (The pawns who pay as powers play - Asia Times Online.):

"It is states and governments which sponsor terrorism to begin with, and subjects become the ultimate victims, and then a vicious cycle of terror rotates.

"In this state-sponsored crime there is no exception, and Pakistan, India, the US and Israel all have the same role.

"Many of us call it a battle between East and West, between the Islamic and Judeo-Christian world, but it is neither of these.

"It is in fact the ruling regimes that want to dictate their will, and then they exploit [people] in various ways.

"Sometimes in the garb of monarchy, sometimes for democracy, and sometimes for dictatorship."