The Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) chief Lt Gen Zaheer-ul-Islam returned to Pakistan on Sunday after his visit to Washington. The ISI chief will submit a detailed report of his US trip to Chief of Army Staff General Ashfaq Pervez Kayani, sources said.
Lieutenant General Zaheerul Islam, the new head of the ISI agency, was paying the first visit to Washington in a year as the leader of Pakistan’s powerful spy body. Zaheer-ul-Islam held a meeting on Thursday with Central Intelligence Agency director David Petraeus and held “substantive, professional and productive” talks as the sources report.
The ISI chief had an important policy meeting at the State Department on Thursday with American President Barack Obama’s special coordinator for Afghanistan and Pakistan, Lt Gen Douglas E. Lute. US Special Envoy Marc Grossman also attended the meeting.
On Wednesday night, Gen Islam had met with CIA deputy director Michael J. Morrell at the residence of Pakistan’s Ambassador Sherry Rehman. This was his first meeting with a senior CIA official before the formal talks with Gen Petraeus at the CIA headquarters. The dinner at Ambassador Rehman’s residence also attracted congressional heavyweights including chairs of the Senate Intelligence Committee Dianne Feinstein and the House Intelligence Mike Rogers. Ranking members of the two committees were also present.
Senator John Kerry, who chairs the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, also dropped in for a long pre-dinner conversation, despite a prior engagement.
There were no discussions on operational details as the two intelligence chiefs were dealing with such details at their closed-door meeting at Langley, the CIA headquarters in Virginia, sources said.
ISI Chief returns from his US visit
