Re: Pak will be failed State by 2015: CIA

From The Friday Times, Aug 13-19 2004 issue.
**In the clutches of CIA-FBI combine **
Imtiaz Gul
We are in the electronic clutches of the US, say intelligence officials
The latest string of raids and the resultant arrests of Al Qaeda suspects and their Pakistani backers underlines two realities. The US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is present in Pakistan in full force and forced by this presence and a commitment for cooperation by President Pervez Musharraf, the ISI is conducting the anti-terror campaign with professional commitment.
The FBI has put in place a system of electronic intelligence and communication never seen before in Pakistan. As an intelligence official put it, “We are in the electronic clutches of another country.”
But few people can guess the extent of FBI’s all-pervasive presence and the extent to which it can monitor communications in Pakistan. The anti-terror war began with the US acquisition of the Jacobabad airbase in October 2001. The process of “acquisition” continues with the help of sophisticated eavesdropping technology and computerised identification systems installed at various locations in Islamabad, Peshawar, Quetta, Lahore, Faisalabad and, in particular, Karachi.
In late 2002, the Capital Development Authority (CDA) in Islamabad had to cede a chunk of its executive block adjacent to the ISI headquarters to accommodate the rising numbers of anti-terror agents, both local and the US.
Sources privy to the “renovation “ of the CDA blocks told TFT that, to their surprise, at least two hundred new air-conditioners were installed in the building before the intelligence outfit members could move in. Besides serving the ISI-FBI personnel, these blocks also house the hi-tech surveillance and eavesdropping systems that are being used to intercept all calls to and from Pakistan.
These systems have been instrumental in keeping an eye on almost every telephonic conversation that takes place in these cities, an intelligence official said, adding that the authorities owed some of the stunning victories over militants, beginning with the arrest of Khalid Sheikh Mohammad in Rawalpindi, to this equipment.
The electronic intelligence devices also led to recent operations in Peshawar’s Hayatabad area, which has, for long, been the favourite abode of wealthy Afghans, Arabs and Africans. “I was surprised to know that the ISI-FBI eavesdropping did not spare even us,” said a senior official with a civilian intelligence outfit. They had every number I had dialled or calls I had received from. Based on that they also questioned me on my contacts, many of whom dated back to the Taliban era,” the official said.
“Even your private conversations are not safe,” another official said.
Enquiries in Lahore, Peshawar, Islamabad and Karachi reveal that most intelligence agents working on the anti-terror project together with scores of retired civilian and military intelligence officers, are constantly being monitored by the ISI-FBI-CIA combine.
The US consulate in Peshawar, another place where such hi-tech equipment has been installed tracks every phone call, officials say.
According to the Washington Post, “The (entire) operation is being paid for with millions of dollars from the CIA, supported with equipment from the National Security Agency and carried out by Pakistani soldiers and intelligence units. It has netted more than 100 suspects in recent days. The [Pakistan] military effort has forced the fighters out of the rugged remote tribal areas [South and North Waziristan] into more urban areas, where they are more visible and vulnerable to capture, “ the paper quoted officials as saying.
Quoting another Pakistani intelligence official, the paper said: “US assistance comes in the shape of incredible data and analysis based on electronic and signal intercepts of Al Qaeda suspects all over the world. Their information is also based upon the detailed debriefing of the arrested suspects and a scientific follow-up of these debriefings held at unidentified locations.”
“It is the penetration of Pakistan’s telecom systems by the US organisations that has yielded better results and won it appreciation by President George W. Bush,” said a diplomat in Islamabad.
http://www.upi.com/view.cfm?StoryID=20020827-110529-6016r
FBI training of Pakistani police to monitor passengers at the country’s airports and to track al Qaida and Taliban members has progressed so well that the bureau has scaled back its original plan to open and maintain 200 offices in Pakistan. Even so, the FBI presence is large and equipped with a panoply of high-tech equipment. In an attempt to maintain a lower profile, many of the 44 FBI field offices
concentrated in the North West Frontier region between Afghanistan and Pakistan have covers. But Pakistanis must wonder what an import-export office – or, as in one case, a multinational soft drinks company – is doing with unmanned drone planes, night-vision radars, satellite-based communications systems and trained dogs
FBI conducts operations in Pakistan without local officials knowledge
Pakistan struggles with FBI presence
Pakistan: FBI rules the roost](http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/EJ04Df04.html)