ISLAMABAD – As Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) chief General Ahmad Shuja Pasha left for the United States on Monday to discuss conflicting issues causing a rise in tensions between Islamabad and Washington, US Ambassador to Pakistan Cameron Munter here asked for the “renewal” of bilateral ties and said progress in Pakistan was vital for his country. Pasha is travelling to Washington on invitation from Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) chief Leon Panetta, as the US wants to restart intelligence cooperation between the two countries, which was suspended following the arrest of CIA contractor Raymond Davis in Lahore in January for killing two Pakistanis.
The ISI chief will also meet top Pentagon officials. A month after Davis’ release, differences between the two spy agencies still stand and cooperation remains virtually suspended. “General Pasha and the CIA chief will try to iron out the differences between Islamabad and Washington on anti-terrorism cooperation and especially, they will try to settle the thorny issue of the presence of hundreds of Davis-like CIA operatives in Pakistan,” said an official here requesting anonymity. Munter said that his country was committed to improving its relationship with Pakistan despite tensions over Davis’ actions.
In his first public speech on US-Pakistan relations, given at the Institute of Strategic Studies in Islamabad, since Davis’ arrest, Munter spoke at length about the “renewal” of Pak-US ties as well as America’s humanitarian programmes in the country. “Why renewal? We’ve had some difficult days in the recent past. But I’m here today to speak of opportunities in the future, not of problems of the past. Those problems have been acute in recent months, symbolised by the case of Raymond Davis,” he said. The US could not afford to “cut and run”, Munter told an audience that had expressed concerns that the US would abandon the region when it pulled out combat troops from Afghanistan scheduled for 2014.
“Instead, the United States would seek to change the nature of our help. We want it to be training, we want it to be business,” he said. “But we won’t leave, we don’t want to leave, we must be wise enough to build the relationship outside of the military relationship,” he said. Munter acknowledged some errors on the part of the US and said country sought greater dialogue in the future. He said Pakistan had made progress with India in a series of meetings that culminated, symbolically, in the recent cricket match attended by both countries’ prime ministers that showed the will of both sides to address the key issues that faced them.
“What is our role in this? We are ready to support agreements that you make, in public and in private. We look to our Pakistani friends, and our Indian friends, to take the lead: it is out of our respect for you and your choices that we do so. Let that same respect for one another flourish, and Pakistan and India will be a success story that’s hard to match,” the US ambassador said. “Recently I met with a Pakistani opinion leader, a person prominent in business and media, who implied to me that America seeks a weak Pakistan. Nothing could be further from the truth,” he added.
“The terrorists target Pakistani society, make no mistake: we are horrified, as are you, that they send 14-year-old boys on suicide missions against Sufi shrines, attacking places of worship.
