CIA post in Afghanistan bombed by double-agent, not Afghan army

As news develops about the bombing of a CIA post in Afghanistan, it appears that the bombing was the work of a Jordanian double-agent and not the Afghan Army.

According to Western intelligence officials, the perpetrator was Humam Khalil Abu-Mulal al-Balawi, 36, an al-Qaida sympathizer from the town of Zarqa, which is also the hometown of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the Jordanian militant Islamist responsible for several devastating attacks in Iraq.

Al-Balawi was arrested by Jordanian intelligence more than a year ago. However, the Jordanians believed that al-Balawi had been successfully reformed and brought over to the American and Jordanian side, setting him up as an agent and sending him off to Afghanistan and Pakistan to infiltrate al-Qaida.

His specific mission, according to officials, was to find and meet Ayman al Zawahiri, al-Qaida's No. 2, also a physician.

However, the Al-Jazeera Web site quoted a Taliban spokesman who said al-Balawi misled Jordanian and U.S. intelligence services for a year. The spokesman, Al-Hajj Ya'qub, promised to release a video confirming his account of the attack.

Last week, according to the Western officials, al-Balawi reportedly called his handler to say he needed to meet with the CIA's team based in Khost, Afghanistan, because he said he had urgent information he needed to relay about Zawahiri.

By: Brant