Inter-Services Intelligence Director General Zaheerul Islam will likely visit the United States on July 24 to discuss various aspects of counterterrorism cooperation with senior American officials, following the easing of tensions after the reopening of NATO supply lines through Pakistan.
The settlement of Pakistan-US row over drone attacks would be on top of the spy master’s agenda along with talks on renewed pressure from Washington for a new military operation in North Waziristan. Apart from General Zaheer, Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee (CJCSC) General Khalid Shamim Wyne and Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar will also undertake their visits to the US capital later this month to formalize the ‘new terms of engagement’ with US vis-à-vis counterterrorism cooperation.
Inter-Services Intelligence Director General Zaheerul Islam will likely visit the United States on July 24 to discuss various aspects of counterterrorism Foreign Office spokesman Moazzam Khan also disclosed at his weekly press briefing on Thursday that an MoU on the formalization of NATO supplies would be signed with US soon. He said both sides had completed their technical level discussions for the purpose.
The visit of General Zaheer to Washington is, however, said to be the most important one as he has been tasked with reviving the full counterterrorism cooperation with the CIA in light of the guidelines given by parliament on the nature of future ties with the US.
The NATO supplies were blocked by Islamabad in November last year when American aircraft attacked a Pakistani border post and killed 24 soldiers.
The airstrikes by US also impacted the anti-terrorism cooperation between the United States and Pakistan, with Islamabad asking Washington to call back all CIA operatives as well as military trainers from Pakistan. “Another important item on agenda of the ISI chief’s visit to the US and his talks there with his counterpart in CIA General David Petraeus will be to sort out differences on the drone strikes and reach some mutually acceptable solution to this contentious issue,” a senior official said, seeking anonymity.
Pakistan wants the drone strikes to be very limited in number, when absolutely essential, and that too in accordance with its own intelligence information about the presence of any al Qaeda or Taliban-linked “high value target” in a specific area.
Contrarily, the US is not in a mood to confine itself to any specific area or number of attacks when it comes to drone strikes and the CIA also fears that any sharing of intelligence with Pakistan could alert the intended targets. General Zaheer and General Wynne would also discuss the important issue of North Waziristan with top US officials in Washington, as the US is once again mounting pressure on Islamabad for launching a military operation in the region against the most powerful militant organization, Haqqani network, which is linked to the Mullah Omar-led Taliban in Afghanistan.
The visit of the ISI chief and other aspects of relations with the United States were discussed in detail during the Corps Commanders meeting in Rawalpindi on Thursday, with Army Chief General Ashfaq Kayani in the chair.