A visit this week by Pakistan's spy chief, the head of that country's Inter-Services Intelligence agency, to CIA headquarters in Virginia has produced some interesting media reports about relations between the two countries' intelligence agencies.
According to The New York Times:
"Pakistan has demanded that the United States steeply reduce the number of Central Intelligence Agency operatives and Special Operations forces working in Pakistan, and that it halt C.I.A. drone strikes aimed at militants in northwest Pakistan. The request was a sign of the near collapse of cooperation between the two testy allies."
It says its sources are "Pakistani and American officials."
The Associated Press has a slightly different take:
"The Pakistanis want the American agency to identify all its employees in Pakistan and shrink its overall agency staff, according to U.S. and Pakistani officials who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss matters of intelligence. Pakistani officials also want advance notice of CIA drone strikes aimed at militants in its tribal areas, and fewer strikes overall."
That's also what NPR's Rachel Martin is reporting. She says that U.S. officials are considering ways to cooperate more closely with Pakistan's ISI, which wants more transparency from the CIA and a reduced presence by the American agency. As she reports, "tensions between the CIA and Pakistan's spy agency the ISI reached new lows earlier this year after CIA contractor Raymond Davis shot and killed two Pakistani men on the streets of Lahore. Davis was released last month after the families of the victims were paid more than $2 million."
Rachel is scheduled to be on All Things Considered later today with more on this. Click here to find an NPR station that broadcasts or streams the show.
Copyright 2020 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org. 9(MDAxNDQ2NDAxMDEyNzU2NzM2ODA3ZGI1ZA001))
