Pakistan's ISI chief heads to U.S. as ties flounder

[Oldman1]

Pakistan's ISI chief heads to U.S. as ties flounder - Yahoo! News

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - The head of Pakistan's powerful spy agency headed for Washington on Wednesday for unscheduled talks, the military said, days after the U.S. suspended a third of military aid over deepening tensions in their relationship.

Few details were immediately available about Lieutenant-General Ahmad Shuja Pasha's one-day trip, but it comes at a time when the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) is under intense pressure to sever ties with militant groups including those it has long nurtured as assets in Afghanistan and India.

Relations between the intelligence establishments of the two countries have been on a downward spiral since January after a CIA contractor killed two Pakistanis with joint operations against militants suspended soon after.

Then in May, the killing of Osama bin Laden in a secret raid by U.S. special forces further damaged the relationship, with Pakistan seeing the operation as a violation of its sovereignty.

Pasha was going to Washington to "coordinate intelligence matters," the military said in a one-line statement.

Incensed over the bin Laden raid, Pakistan drastically cut the number of U.S. military trainers allowed in the country and also set clear terms for U.S. intelligence activities in the country.

Washington, responded by saying it was holding back $800 million -- a third of $2 billion in security assistance -- in a show of displeasure over the cutback of military trainers, limits on visa for U.S. personnel and other bilateral irritants.

Despite protests by Pakistan in public, the United States has continued drone strikes in its northwest region, killing at least 48 suspected militants this week, one of the largest death tolls to date in the controversial air bombing campaign.

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That pretty much was unexpected. Come to Washington to mend relationship perhaps? With the aid being cutoff it looks like the ISI is taking the U.S. seriously in coordination with dealing with terrorist havens. We will see.

 

[lem34]

I dont think he should go

 

[Bill Longley]

presumption, presumptions and presumptions...this show what a negetive mentality we have. US has announced draw down date. Pakistan have an important part to play in all this. weather we like US or Not we have to coordinate things so that we dont suffer. Hats of for the elite of this country who failed in every field and now its westernize children defame their own country to show they are modern and ANTI_LECTUALS.so before giving verdict , criticizing or just cursing or showing ur bias see the ground situation .

 

[Guest01]

presumption, presumptions and presumptions...this show what a negetive mentality we have. US has announced draw down date. Pakistan have an important part to play in all this. weather we like US or Not we have to coordinate things so that we dont suffer. Hats of for the elite of this country who failed in every field and now its westernize children defame their own country to show they are modern and ANTI_LECTUALS.so before giving verdict , criticizing or just cursing or showing ur bias see the ground situation .

The drawdown date and all is okay, but it is the curret draw down of the AID money that is worrying in the relationship. If the US will start monetizing every objective that they set Pakistan and then start discounting the non-achieved parameters then this AID for the Pakistani economy will either dwindle down or the Pakistani Army will have to do US bidding in the true sense of it (there is an untrue sense also apparently).

Hence it is important that the elite generals of the Pakistani Army visit US and get the acts on cooperation together and make the US see the Pakistani Army's point of view too. And of course, engagement never hurt anyone.

 

[bubble123]

i have never understood the AID thing both from american and pakistani point of view.

I mean Pakistani Budget is like almost $30 Billion.

How does 2-3 billion make a big deal to the extent of giving up our sovereignty.

Unless this money is meant as a bribe for decision makers.

 

[laiqs@mi]

my dear this money goes to curropt generals politicians and beaurocrates.
and this is only an excuse which they show to the nation that americans are giving us aid so we are not in condition to neglect there orders. or we cant say no to usa.
if you see some politicians or even rtd generals on t.v they will show you that it America not ALLAH who is running pakistan. if america stop supporting us we even cant breath. if they vege war on us we shall not be able to stand for an hour....... so and so.
but for me as a muslims and a pakistani i myself will be first if any critical conditions comes. i shall sacrifice my self my family every thing for islam, and paksitan. we still are ready to eat grass but we need dignity honour.

 

[araz]

I dont know who you are but i would strongly advise you to curtail your verbal outage and think before you write. The post in question is not fit for the gutter much less a forum. Differences aside you need to understand that there is a way of conducting your self on the forum and you have crossed those limits a few times in this thread alone.
Please refrain from writing garbage, or you will be banned. POST REPORTED !!! MODS PLease take appropriate action!!!
Araz

 

[araz]

i have never understood the AID thing both from american and pakistani point of view.

I mean Pakistani Budget is like almost $30 Billion.

How does 2-3 billion make a big deal to the extent of giving up our sovereignty.

Unless this money is meant as a bribe for decision makers.

The problem is simple. No one wants to pay taxes and the big bosses everywhere are used to their luxuries. The army is not immune from it. You have a blck economy at least five times the GDP as reported and appropriately taxing it would solve most if not all our problems. Pakistan has had a nasty habit of living beyond its means for decades and we havew a generation of people botrn in the culture of borrowing to spend. We need some strong austerity checks and balancesand drastic reduction in non developmental expenses. But the Government is so inept , they cant do it at all.
Araz

 

[araz]

my dear this money goes to curropt generals politicians and beaurocrates.
and this is only an excuse which they show to the nation that americans are giving us aid so we are not in condition to neglect there orders. or we cant say no to usa.
if you see some politicians or even rtd generals on t.v they will show you that it America not ALLAH who is running pakistan. if america stop supporting us we even cant breath. if they vege war on us we shall not be able to stand for an hour....... so and so.
but for me as a muslims and a pakistani i myself will be first if any critical conditions comes. i shall sacrifice my self my family every thing for islam, and paksitan. we still are ready to eat grass but we need dignity honour.

It is not as simple as that. Even though there are backhanders received, the government and the armed forces spread the aid out against the expenditure of WOT. We are chronically behind on payments for WOT and that is a burden on the economy. However, what we do need to do is to curtail the non developmental expenditures to the minimum, and spur local development of appropriate industry to not only provide jobs to locals but also decrease our reliance on foreign equipment as well as increase our exports.
Araz

 

[lem34]

I dont know who you are but i would strongly advise you to curtail your verbal outage and think before you write. The post in question is not fit for the gutter much less a forum. Differences aside you need to understand that there is a way of conducting your self on the forum and you have crossed those limits a few times in this thread alone.
Please refrain from writing garbage, or you will be banned. POST REPORTED !!! MODS PLease take appropriate action!!!
Araz

Have self deleted. Didnt mean to offend anyone. It was supposed to be a joke. but in hindsite it could be said it was bad taste. Having said that I thought I was amongst a group of men who would unlikely to be offended having seen what they post.

 

[lem34]

It is not as simple as that. Even though there are backhanders received, the government and the armed forces spread the aid out against the expenditure of WOT.
Araz

Whats the source for this please

 

[AgNoStiC MuSliM]

He is going there To Kiss some Azz and beg for money these guys make us all proud

Then what does that say about the multiple trips made by high level US Administration, Military and intelligence officials to Pakistan?

Lets stop ranting and trolling please, and engage in constructive discourse.

 

[Indrajith]

Eventhough most of pakis dont want aid from US, but see the way it is going Gen. Pasha going to US for talks, Mr. Gilani expressing concern over cutting of aid by US, Governor of the Central bank resigns, may the pak economy is in a very bad state

People should speak with their brain more than their heart

 

[araz]

Whats the source for this please

AryanB
Thank You for deleting the posts. Secondly ,I am sorry but no one will be able to provide you with a concrete source. A source would mean that hte accounts of people have been checked and something has been foundwrong. Who in Pakistan would do that?
However if you look at Generals in history at one time 4 of the top 10 richest genrals were pakistanis(Zia's time!! ). Very few Generals are living a life in keeping with their earnings. One would have to look at how they earned their money. Also there were news in the Past of a certqain General persistently persuing a sale of some UAVs from germany against better products from competittors.
As to funds being dispersed for non developmental expenditures, ask any mid ranked Service man what happens when a CO takes over and you will know the story.
Araz

 

[lem34]

You know the problem in our country is we dont deal with corruption effectivly. A few years ago I was in china and when I looked at the local newspaper there was a case of a corrupt bank manager who had embezzled some 1 million US dollars and the report stated that he had been found guilty and was to be executed. Having been brought up in the UK I thought that this was a bit harsh. But you know the more I think about our problems I think that we need to follow chinas example. I mean its a joke in Pakistan. There were recent reports that Gillani went to kuwait to ask for aid for flood victims and when the kuwities contacted the pak embassy to ask for a bank account to deposit funds they were given gillanis bank account number (wikileaks). Its so vulgar and blatent no enquiry nothing. In fact watching Geo TV sometime ago a ppp representative was stating well whats wrong with corruption pna did it when they were in power.