Pakistani officials threatened Monday to impose new limits on CIA drone strikes in their country and to expel agency operatives whose missions are not approved by Islamabad, escalating a high-stakes feud between the counterterrorism allies, U.S. and Pakistani officials said.
The demands, which were conveyed as top spies from the two countries met at CIA headquarters in Virginia, represent an effort by Pakistan to exert more control over the covert CIA war being waged inside its borders.
Pakistani officials have expressed mounting frustration with the accelerated pace of the CIA’s Predator air campaign and the expanded presence of agency operatives, including a security contractor who fatally shot two Pakistani men in Lahore in January.
Still, any new restrictions on the CIA’s activities in Pakistan could have far-reaching consequences for the U.S. pursuit of al-Qaeda and its top leaders, who are thought to be based in the country’s tribal belt.
The frictions were the focus of a meeting Monday between CIA Director Leon Panetta and the head of Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence directorate, Lt. Gen. Ahmed Shuja Pasha.
A senior Pakistani official called the tone of the meeting “cordial” but said Pasha made clear that the CIA-ISI relationship had suffered a “breach of trust” and had to be reconfigured with a “clear code of conduct.”
“We need to know who is in Pakistan doing what, and that the CIA won’t go behind our back,” said the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue. “There has to be a greater sharing of information, in terms of what the CIA wants and is doing. They have to stop mistrusting the ISI as much as they do . . . you can’t have us as your ally and treat us as your adversary at the same time.”
Pasha asked the CIA for a complete list of its employees and contractors in Pakistan and made clear that some may be asked to leave, the official said. The Pakistanis also said that they wanted a reduction in the number of Predator strikes and more timely information about intended targets before attacks are launched.
http://www.pakistankakhudahafiz.com...to-impose-new-restrictions-on-cia-activities/
