The presence of ‘unregistered’ officials of the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in Pakistan is set to create a new rift between Islamabad and Washington, diplomatic sources said.
“Pakistan has been demanding identification of the CIA agents but Washington has been delaying it for a while. This is creating tension in Islamabad,” a senior official at the foreign ministry told this newspaper.
Inter-Services Intell-igence (ISI) chief Lieute-nant General Zaheerul Islam will visit Washin-gton next week to discuss the drone attacks, CIA agents issue and the future of intelligence cooperation, the official added.
The ISI chief’s visit to Washington signals a thaw in relations beset by crisis since US troops found and killed Osama bin Laden in Pakistan in May 2011.
General Islam, who was appointed in March, will hold talks with CIA director David Petraeus on the bilateral issues.
The official said that there are media reports that the US embassy in Islamabad is playing host to ‘one of the largest CIA stations in the world’ and that CIA officials under cover of diplomatic immunity are taking advantage of the host country’s hospitality.
The United States is understood to be keen for a return of US military personnel to assist Pakistani officers in the northwest, where Washington says Taliban havens are exacerbating the war in neighbouring Afghanistan.
“It is not true,” said an official, when asked if Pakistan may allow such a return. Islamabad’s desire is an end to US attacks against the Taliban and al-Qaeda, and the means for Islamabad to carry out the attacks instead. But on that, the battle lines have been drawn and there is little indication of concessions, given the level of distrust between Islamabad and Washington.
“The general has been authorised to take a firm stand on the drones’ issue during his talks,” the official said.
“The visit has the full backing of the political and military leadership,” he said. “We need this precision strike capability to avoid collateral damage and its political fall out. The idea is that the US develops the target and tells us, and we destroy it ourselves,” the official added. Islamabad has been increasingly vocal in its opposition to the drones.