CIA chief arrives in Pakistan to repair ties

Society Pakistan & World Affairs
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ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — CIA director Leon Panetta arrived here Friday on an unannounced visit that marked his first trip to Pakistan since al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden was killed in a Navy SEAL raid more than a month ago, U.S. and Pakistani officials said.

Panetta’s visit comes as the administration seeks to keep its badly bruised relations with Pakistan from deteriorating any further.

Two weeks ago, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said in a visit to Islamabad that Washington expected to see “decisive steps” from Pakistan “in the days ahead.”

But administration officials remain unhappy with Pakistan’s counterterrorism response following the bin Laden raid in early May in a northern Pakistani city dominated by military installations. The United States has been pushing Pakistan to take more initiative in going after militant safe havens, to little apparent effect.

In recent weeks, Pakistan has seemed only to further distance itself from its alliance with the United States, forcing out most of the 135 U.S. troops who had been here training Pakistani forces.

On Thursday, Pakistani army chief Gen. Ashfaq Kayani issued a pointed statement that called for U.S. military aid to Pakistan to be converted into economic assistance, demanded an end to U.S. drone strikes in the country’s tribal areas and insisted Pakistan would not be pressured into conducting military operations.

Panetta, who has been nominated to be the next U.S. defense secretary, left for Pakistan soon after confirmation hearings on Capitol Hill concluded on Thursday. A Pakistani intelligence official confirmed his presence Friday night but said he did not know the purpose of Panetta’s visit.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia-pacific/panetta-arrives-in-pakistan-unannounced/2011/06/10/AGFal6OH_story.html

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Re: CIA chief arrives in Pakistan to repair ties

The viceroy's here

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Re: CIA chief arrives in Pakistan to repair ties

http://www.dawn.com/2011/06/11/cia-chief-leon-panetta-on-pakistan-visit.html

**Panetta to press for continuation of ‘critical US operations’ **
By Baqir Sajjad Syed | From the Newspaper

ISLAMABAD: **CIA chief Leon Panetta arrived here on Friday to press Pakistani leaders for continuation of “critical US intelligence operations” and assess whether they are living up to counter-terrorism commitments made last month.

Discussions on the Afghan end-game and reconciliation with warring Taliban groups are also high on the CIA chief’s agenda.
**
Mr Panetta, who is set to succeed outgoing Robert Gates as US defence secretary in about three weeks, is expected to meet a number of civil and military leaders, but his visit itinerary is being kept a tightly-guarded secret.

While most of his meetings, sources said, were scheduled for Saturday, Mr Panetta started his visit by meeting Army Chief Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani on Friday night.

If media statements over the past couple of days are any indication, the parleys are likely to be very intense because both sides have taken extreme positions in public before this interaction.

Mr Panetta landed in Islamabad a day after the military top brass agreed to curtail CIA operations in Pakistan and streamline the ISI-CIA working relationship which has been at the core of strained bilateral ties since the killing by Raymond Davis of two youths in Lahore early this year.

CIA footprint in Pakistan has been significantly reduced after the May 2 US raid on Osama bin Laden’s compound in Abbottabad.

**A top defence official said that pressure was now being exerted on the country’s leaders to allow certain critical operations which had been affected because of the American spy agency’s reduced presence.

He did not elaborate what the critical operations were, but these may be related to Al Qaeda and Taliban terrorists who have taken up refuge inside Pakistan.

The US and Pakistan have already formed a joint task force for ISI-CIA cooperation, but the American spy agency isn’t ready to fully trust its Pakistani counterpart and desires to have an independent intelligence gathering mechanism.**

During a corps commanders’ conference on Thursday, the military leadership had taken a hard-line stance that “no intelligence agency can be allowed to carry out independent operation on our soil.”

**It will be interesting to see what the two countries finally settle for and what is ultimately shared with the public, especially after the military brass took a principled stance that unlike the past when lot of secret deals were worked out between ISI and CIA, intelligence cooperation in future would be “transparent, visible and documented”.

According to source, the CIA chief will also seek progress on the “decisive steps” Pakistani leaders had committed during their meeting with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton last month when she visited Islamabad along with Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Mike Mullen.**

**While the Americans had handed over a list of five wanted terrorists, including Ilyas Kashmiri who is reported to have died last week in a drone attack in Wana (South Waziristan), Pakistan was said to have committed to clearing tribal areas, including North Waziristan, of terrorist sanctuaries.
**
At his confirmation hearing prior to departure for Pakistan, Mr Panetta had warned that continuation of terrorist cells could compromise US success in Afghanistan and called for an accelerated campaign to end them.

**Urging Pakistan to live up to the bargain, he said that future security assistance for Pakistan was contingent upon fulfilment of the pledges of “concrete steps”.
**
The army’s decision to divert US military aid to country’s ailing economy has in a way practically taken away one of the levers the Pentagon and CIA traditionally had by indicating that it (the military) didn’t rely too much on the American aid.

The talks will also focus on reconciliation in Afghanistan. Pakistan has been asking the US to make a distinction between the Taliban and Al Qaeda so that a political dialogue with the warring groups could be initiated.

Mr Panetta’s trip coincided with Afghan President Hamid Karzai’s visit to Islamabad for the inaugural session of Pak-Afghan joint commission on peace and reconciliation.

The joint commission, being seen as major a step forward in bringing Kabul and Islamabad on same page for peace and reconciliation efforts, however, is meeting an uncertain environment because of lack of clear American support for dialogue with the Taliban.

The US has not shared information of its contacts with the second-tier leadership of Taliban led by Tayyab Agha, a close aide of Mullah Umar, in Germany with either Pakistan or Afghanistan, adding to doubts about the process.

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Re: CIA chief arrives in Pakistan to repair ties

Look who is sincere here.

I guess he didn’t want to miss out on Friday night partying :hehe:

Says who? How “significant” is the number?

And Pakistani agency should trust CIA because …??? They already have huge presence on ground, what do they want? Every government office should create a separate room/office for CIA agent now?

Isn’t it about Ilyas Kashmiri?

When is US going to block terrorists crossing into Pakistan? Why can’t US stop the “terrorists cells” which are inside Afghanistan working against Pakistan?

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CIA chief meets COAS, DG ISI
Agencies (32 minutes ago) Today

ISLAMABAD: CIA Director Leon Panetta met over dinner Friday with Chief of Army Staff General Ashfaq Pervaiz Kayani and Director-General Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) Ahmed Shuja Pasha for talks on how to repair ties between the two countries that were fractured by the American raid that killed Osama bin Laden, a Pakistani and a US official said.

Sources told DawnNews that the talks focused on intelligence cooperation between the US and Pakistan.

The military leadership also apprised Panetta that Pakistan would not accept unilateral American operations inside Pakistan, sources said.

The subject of reconciliation with the Afghan Taliban was also discussed during the meeting.

Panetta’s visit was his first to Pakistan since the unilateral American operation on May 2 killed the al Qaeda leader in a Pakistani garrison town. It is likely to be his last before he becomes the next US defence secretary.

American officials have said they want to rebuild a relationship vital to their fight against al Qaeda and their efforts to wind down the war in Afghanistan, but progress has been slow amid suspicions by some in Washington that elements within the security establishment here were sheltering bin Laden.

Pakistan, facing public anger over what was seen as an unacceptable violation of sovereignty, sent home most US Army trainers in the country and said Thursday that it no longer wanted American financial assistance.

Panetta dined with General Kayani and Shuja Pasha, after arriving Friday, said the officials, who did not give their names to discuss the high-level meeting.

Panetta’s relationship with both men will be key in his new role, presuming he is speedily confirmed as the next US defence chief.

**One of the key items of contention between Pakistan and the US: As an act of faith to restore relations with the Pakistanis, US intelligence shared the suspected location of explosive material held by the al Qaeda-linked Haqqani network at two compounds in the Pakistani tribal areas, according to a Pakistani and a US official.

The US official said that after the intelligence was shared, the explosive material was moved. The Pakistani official told The Associated Press that they checked out the locations, but nothing was there, and that they intend to investigate to dispel US suspicions that the Pakistani intelligence service had tipped off the militants.

Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss intelligence operations.
**
Pakistan must do more to go after militants within its borders, Panetta said in remarks to the Senate Armed Services Committee for his confirmation hearing. The CIA director said that after the bin Laden raid, the US asked Islamabad to ”take a number of concrete steps to demonstrate cooperation and counterterrorism.”

One of those steps is the formation of a joint intelligence team to track down militant targets inside Pakistan, drawing in part from the trove of bin Laden records taken from his personal office during the raid.

**Pakistani officials say the Americans have shared some intelligence from the trove, and the Americans say the Pakistanis are working on providing visas for a small number of US intelligence officers to come to Pakistan to join the team, but both sides complain the effort is moving very slowly.

The US wants that team to pursue a list of five high-value targets it handed to the Pakistani leadership during another high-level visit to Pakistan by US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and chairman of the joint chiefs Adm. Mike Mullen, along with CIA Deputy Director Mike Morell, who met Pasha separately.

The target list included al Qaeda commander Ilyas Kashmiri, who was reportedly hit by a drone strike in the Pakistani tribal areas last Friday. But both sides say that hit was not the direct result of the intelligence partnership nor data from the material seized from the bin Laden compound.
**
US officials have described Kashmiri as al Qaeda’s military operations chief in Pakistan. He was rumoured to be a contender to replace bin Laden as the terror network’s chief.

Pakistan’s interior minister said Monday he was ”100 per cent” certain that the wanted al Qaeda commander was dead after the drone strike in Pakistan’s tribal areas.

US officials will not confirm his death out of caution because he was reported dead in strikes twice before.

A Pakistani official said Panetta would stay for a second day of talks with officials, in which they hope to discuss what US intelligence officers will be allowed to do, and how many will be allowed into the country, as part of the joint intelligence team.

Panetta’s visit to Islamabad coincides with a trip by Afghan President Hamid Karzai in which he is likely to discuss the role Islamabad can play in negotiations with the Taliban to end the war in Afghanistan.

http://www.dawn.com/2011/06/11/cia-chief-meets-kayani-pasha.html

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Re: CIA chief arrives in Pakistan to repair ties

[quote]
Isn't it about Ilyas Kashmiri?
[/quote]

I think tht points to NWA operation, arresting the five most wanted people (including Kashmiri of course), and help America achieve the end game in Afghanistan.

[quote]
When is US going to block terrorists crossing into Pakistan? Why can't US stop the "terrorists cells" which are inside Afghanistan working against Pakistan?
[/QUOTE]

Man why should they do that? Do you want their soldiers to become jobless after the Afghan war? Who will stabilize Pakistan after the spillover of war into Pakistan?

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^ I know :bummer:

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http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/12/world/asia/12pakistan.html?hp

C.I.A. Director Warns Pakistan on Collusion With Militants
By ELISABETH BUMILLER
Published: June 11, 2011

WASHINGTON — **Leon E. Panetta, the director of the Central Intelligence Agency, confronted Pakistani intelligence officials face to face with what the United States believes is evidence of collusion between Pakistani security officials and militants staging attacks in Afghanistan, an American counterterrorism official said Saturday.

During an unannounced trip to Pakistan’s capital on Friday, Mr. Panetta met with the leader of the Pakistani intelligence service, Lt. Gen. Ahmed Shuja Pasha, and showed him satellite photographs and other evidence of what the C.I.A. believes to be two facilities for the manufacture of bombs used by militants based in Pakistan against American forces in Afghanistan, the official said. The bomb facilities were in the northwestern districts of North and South Waziristan, both havens for militants.

The official said Mr. Panetta was compelled to confront General Pasha after the C.I.A. alerted the Pakistanis about the existence of the bomb-making facilities several weeks ago and asked them to raid the locations. But when the Pakistani Army showed up, the militants were gone, making the C.I.A. suspicious that the militants had warning from someone on the Pakistani side.
**
**“The targets seem to have been tipped off,” the American official said, adding, “There are indications that some senior Pakistani officials aren’t happy about it, and neither are we, of course.”
**
A senior Pakistani official said Saturday that at first there was no reason for Pakistan to be suspicious that the bomb makers had disappeared. “Extremist groups often move locations,” the official said. But, the official said, “now that the U.S. side has drawn our attention to the possibility of the Taliban being tipped off between the day the intelligence was shared and the day of our military action, we will work on finding out what happened.”

Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive intelligence matters.

Mr. Panetta’s meeting with General Pasha and the theory that there was a tip-off about the bomb-making facilities were first reported by ABC News and The Washington Post.

Tensions between the United States and Pakistan have worsened since the American military raid that killed Osama bin Laden near the Pakistani capital last month. American officials say they have uncovered no evidence that anyone in Pakistan’s senior leadership knew about Bin Laden’s hiding place, although the departing defense secretary, Robert M. Gates, said recently that he thought “somebody” in Pakistan knew.

American officials did not tell Pakistan about the raid until afterward.

American intelligence and military officials have long said that elements of Pakistan’s intelligence service have close links to Pakistani insurgents and the Pakistani Taliban. American officials say Pakistan supports the insurgents as a proxy force in Afghanistan, preparing for influence after American soldiers leave.

Mr. Panetta, who is due to replace Mr. Gates as defense secretary on July 1, said during his confirmation hearing last week that Pakistan, an important American ally, also remained a serious problem.

He told the Senate Armed Services Committee that the relationship with Pakistan was “one of the most critical, and yet one of the most complicated and frustrating relationships that we have.” Mr. Panetta added that Pakistan’s nuclear weapons remained a concern because of “the danger that those nukes could wind up in the wrong hands.”

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Re: CIA chief arrives in Pakistan to repair ties

kuttay ki dum terhi ki terhi hi rahay gi

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true Captain!! :(

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Re: CIA chief arrives in Pakistan to repair ties

As if the Americans or CIA or brown politicians (read boot-lickers of the West) are whiter than white

http://paktribune.com/news/index.shtml?240096

**“The CIA then brought in RAW and RAAM agents to boost its strength and collectively gave birth to Pakistani Taliban, who later got organized and formed Tehrik-e-Taliban-Pakistan (TTP) in December 2007. They were won over by providing them bagfuls of dollars and meeting all their weapons and equipment demands and also promising them that FATA will be made an independent caliphate and submerged with Pashtun belt of Afghanistan.” **

Undeniably there are many radicalised ‘ghoomey huey’ angry young muslims who only believe in their intolerant narrow-minded extreme interpretation of Islam and want to take us back to the dark ages but who is to stay that CIA is not behind the creation of Al-Qaeda or atleast TTP. TTP is most likely a smokescreen for CIA’s illegal (and terrorist activities) in Pakistan. I read somewhere that Saleem Shahzad was killed by blackwater, not ISI.

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oops the thread says.."repair ties" i thought other 'ties' that rehman malik and our well-dressed PM wears. lols