ISI chief Shuja Pasha leaves for US to revive ties
Islamabad: ISI chief Lt Gen Ahmed Shuja Pasha on Wednesday left for the US in a bid to revive security ties affected by recent events, including the suspension of $ 800 million of military aid to Pakistan.
“Lt Gen Ahmed Shuja Pasha, Director General of Inter-Services Intelligence, has proceeded to USA for a day-long visit to coordinate intelligence matters,” said a brief statement from the military.
Pasha embarked on the visit a day after the US Army’s Central Command chief, Gen James Mattis, arrived in Pakistan in an apparent move to defuse tensions between the two countries over a series of incidents, including the suspension of military aid.
Senior American officials announced on Sunday that the US administration had suspended the payment of military aid as certain steps taken by Pakistan, such as the expulsion of military trainers, justified cancellation of the assistance.
The US made the decision after Pakistan expelled over 100 American military trainers. The move is also aimed at pressuring Pakistan to take more steps against militants.
The US media said Pakistan has refused visas to US military officers, which annoyed the Obama administration.
Pakistan’s Defence Minister Chaudhry Ahmad Mukhtar on Tuesday warned that his government might withdraw troops from the tribal regions bordering Afghanistan as a response to the suspension of US military aid.
The military aid that has been held up includes $ 300 million to be paid as reimbursement to Pakistan for expenses incurred in the war on terror.
Mukhtar warned that the US move could harm Pakistan’s campaign against al Qaeda and Taliban.
Following a meeting of the Pakistan Army’s Corps Commanders chaired on Tuesday by army chief Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, the military announced that it would fight terrorism “in our own national interest using our own resources.”
US Central Command chief Gen Mattis met Pakistan’s Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee Chairman Gen Khalid Shameem Wynne and discussed the regional security situation with special emphasis on the war on terror, a brief army statement said.
The statement did not give details but it is believed that tensions over the suspension of US aid prominently figured in the talks.
Mattis is the first top US commander to visit Pakistan after the suspension of military aid, which analysts believe may harm ties between the allies in the war against terror.
Relations between the US and Pakistan deteriorated after CIA contractor Raymond Davis was arrested in Lahore in January for shooting and killing two armed Pakistani men.
Though the two sides hammered out a deal to release Davis, military and intelligence cooperation came to a standstill after the covert US raid that killed Osama bin Laden in Abbotabad on May 2.
The Pakistani military was also angered by a series of leaks to the American media by US officials about its alleged closeness to certain militant groups like the Haqqani network.
Recently, US Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Mike Mullen said he believed the Pakistani government had “sanctioned” the recent killing of journalist Syed Saleem Shahzad.
The ISI has denied allegations that it was involved in the abduction and murder of Shahzad.
Source: IBN
What if Americans having the proof that 9/11 attack is the plan of ISI but executed using OBL?
What if the Americans have the proof that obama had sexual relations with osama bin laden and 9/11 was staged to screw OBL..
ISI chief heads to US as ties nosedive
WASHINGTON: Pakistan’s spy chief Ahmed Shuja Pasha, who heads the country’s ISI, an organization accused by the United States of terrorist links and of murdering its own citizens, is arriving in Washington for talks aimed ostensibly at defusing tensions with the Obama administration.
The sudden, unexpected visit comes on the heels of mildly punitive US action including withholding $800 million military aid to Pakistan following US allegations that the Pakistani government “sanctioned” the murder of a journalist and that the ISI continues to foster terrorist groups in Pakistan at the expense of cooperation with Washington.
In a brief, one-line statement, Pakistan’s military, de facto rulers of the country, said Pasha was going to Washington to “coordinate intelligence matters”.
Pasha himself is under the gun, since he is listed as an accused in the 26/11 Mumbai attack case in a NY court case. His visit also comes on the heels of the assassination in Kandahar of Afghanistan president Karzai’s half-brother Ahmed Wali Karzai.
The mood in Washington is decidedly hostile towards Pakistan, particularly the ISI, with sections of the US establishment wanting Pasha’s ouster. A New York Times editorial last week, prompted by the Obama administration’s views on the matter, said Pakistan’s weak civilian government could re-establish its bonafides “by insisting on retirement of Lt Gen Ahmed Shuja Pasha, the ISI chief, and the appointment of a more credible successor.”
“The US needs to use its influence to hasten Pasha’s departure. It should tell Pakistan’s security leadership that if Washington identifies anyone in ISI or the army as abetting terrorists, those individuals will face sanctions like travel bans or other measures. The ISI has become inimical to Pakistani and American interests,” it said.
The Obama administration has held back some $ 800 in military aid to Pakistan, including $ 300 million earmarked for training programs which Pakistan’s military scrapped by denying visas to U.S trainers and expelling those already in Pakistan. Pakistan’s military fears that the trainers are being used to infiltrate the armed forces and hire spies to track down its assets, both human and technical.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/pakistan/ISI-chief-heads-to-US-as-ties-nosedive/articleshow/9217927.cms
The restoration of ties is imperative, as the confrontation has already made matters worse for both countries, in the war on terror.