The director general of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) will next week visit the United States to resume talks on intelligence cooperation and drone strikes, the thorniest aspect of Pakistani-US relations, an official said Wednesday. The United States is understood to be keen for a return of US military personnel to assist Pakistani officers in the northwest, where Washington says Taliban havens are exacerbating the war in eighbouring Afghanistan. “It is not true,” said the official, when asked if Pakistan may allow such a return. Islamabad’s desire is an end to US attacks against the Taliban and Al-Qaeda, and the means for Islamabad to carry out the attacks instead. But on that, the battle lines have been drawn and there is little indication of concessions, given the level of distrust between Islamabad and Washington. “The general has been authorised to take a firm stand on the drones’ issue during his talks,” the official told AFP. “The visit has the full backing of the political and military leadership,” he said. “We need this precision strike capability to avoid collateral damage and its political fall out. The idea is that the US develops the target and tells us, and we destroy it ourselves,” the official added.
