Pakistani officials angered by the secret US raid that killed Osama bin Laden declared they would conduct a full review of operations by US drone aircraft over the country and rebuffed an appeal by visiting US officials not to close military intelligence liaison centers, US and Pakistani officials said.
Officials on both sides described Friday’s meeting as blunt, and acknowledged that serious disagreements remained. But they said the two sides also agreed that the relationship is mutually beneficial.
A senior US official in Washington said that the Pakistani officials rebuffed a US request not to close the liaison offices in Peshawar and Quetta that have been used to share intelligence on militants with Pakistani ground forces, reported The Los Angeles Times.
Pakistan recently ordered US special operations personnel at the so-called “intelligence fusion cells” to leave the country, a setback for US efforts to form closer ties with Pakistani units fighting militants along with the border with Afghanistan.