Lt General Nadeem Taj was implicated by the White House with being connected to the Taliban (wild and unproven allegations, I’m sure)
What is interesting is that the new ISI chief, Lt Gen Pasha, was overseeing the army operations in the FATA over the past 2 years. It is encouraging to see an officer with this counter-insurgency background being appointed to head ISI, given the threat the militancy has been to Pakistan and its sovereignty.
Hopefully this will be reflected in a stronger ISI focus and effort on smashing the militants.
Kayani shakes up army command -DAWN - Top Stories; September 30, 2008
In a major reshuffle in the army’s top command, Chief of the Army Staff General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani on Monday brought in a new head of the all-powerful Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), changed four of the nine corps commanders and appointed a new chief of general staff, besides giving key postings to a few others.
The shake-up is the most wide-ranging since Gen Kayani took over as the COAS and perhaps even more significant since the former military ruler General Pervez Musharraf stepped down as the country’s controversial president.
The move came within hours of the promotion of seven major generals to the rank of three-star lieutenant generals, with a number of them becoming the direct beneficiary of the reshuffle.
Perhaps the most surprising of all such changes is the appointment of Lt-Gen Ahmed Shuja Pasha as the new Director-General of ISI. He has replaced Lt-Gen Nadeem Taj, who has been appointed Commander of 30 Corps in Gujranwala. A highly professional soldier in his own right, Lt-Gen Pasha has, for the past over two years, been overseeing the ongoing security operation in the tribal areas and parts of the NWFP.
In his capacity as the director-general military operations (DGMO) he was directly responsible for the launching and execution of all major security strikes in Fata and Swat, the latest being the major onslaught against religious extremists in the Bajaur tribal agency