Stanley McChrystal makes frequent visits to Pakistan and holds regular talks with Pakistan's army chief General Ashfaq Kayani in an effort to streamline the fight against Islamist insurgents on both sides of the border.

Speaking in Brussels last week, McChrystal warned that a major campaign to win back control of Kandahar in southern Afghanistan would be slower than expected because Afghan forces are in short supply and the local populace wary.

The US embassy in Islamabad said McChrystal travelled to Pakistan to "provide an update" on International Security Assistance Force operations in Afghanistan and to consult Kayani.

The visit comes after Pakistan dimissed a study for the London School of Economics accusing its ISI of providing funding, training and sanctuary to the Taliban in Afghanistan on a scale far greater than previously believed.

"It is a part of a malicious campaign," Pakistani army spokesman Major General Athar Abbas told AFP on Sunday, questioning the credibility of what Islamabad has called a "one-sided" report.

Pakistan lashed out at allegations that President Asif Ali Zardari assured captive senior Taliban leaders that they were "our people" and had his backing, apparently authorising some to be released from prison.

Presidential spokeswoman Farahnaz Ispahani said the "wild accusations" were based on "one-sided sources" and that researcher Matt Waldman should have conducted interviews in Pakistan to balance the report.

Inter-Services Intelligence has played a key political role in Pakistan, which has spent more than half of its 63 years under military rule, and there have long been suspicions about its role in neighbouring Afghanistan.

McChrystal last visited Islamabad on May 21.

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