ISLAMABAD – The US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) has pulled its station chief in Islamabad out of Pakistan because of threats to his safety, after his name was revealed in a lawsuit filed against him, accusing him of orchestrating drone strikes in the Tribal Areas.
“Not only CIA’s station chief Jonathan Banks has been pulled out of Islamabad to Washington DC, but US authorities, particularly the CIA, is looking into the possibility that ISI played a role in blowing the cover of the top US spy,” a diplomatic source, asking not to be named, told
Pakistan Today.
Banks’ name was revealed when Haji Karim Khan, a resident of North Waziristan, recently filed a lawsuit charging Banks for playing a key role in repeated drone attacks in the Tribal Areas, one of which killed the petitioner’s son and brother on December 3, 2009.
According to the source, the CIA took no time in appointing a new station chief for Islamabad, who would soon fly to Pakistan to take charge of duty. A security official, however, rejected ISI’s role in the issue.
