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Context
 | CIA chief conveyed concerns over ISI Dawn |
| Pakistan Denies Report Its Spy Service Planned Kabul Blast New York Times |
| Regional Security Tops Pakistani Prime Minister's Agenda PBS Newshour |
| ‘The US wants the ISI to win its war’ Tehelka |
Precis
According to Pakistans Dawn newspaper: During his vist to Washington this week, Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani had an exclusive meeting with CIA chief Michael V. Hayden. Hayden presented him with a “charge sheet on Pakistani intelligence agencies’ alleged involvement in jihadi activities. A senior official familiar with the talks said: “Some information in the CIA charge-sheet were so damning that the Pakistanis could not deny them.” The New York Times reported that US intelligence agencies believe that members of Pakistan’s spy service, the Directorate of Inter-Services Intelligence, or ISI, helped plan the deadly July 7th bombing of India’s embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan. 54 people were killed in that attack. Pakistan's government admitted Friday that it needs to purge Taliban sympathizers from the ISI, but it angrily denied a report that the agency helped plan the bombing in Kabul. The US also suspects rogue elements in the ISI of giving militants sensitive information that helps them launch attacks from Pakistan's tribal regions into bordering Afghanistan. They have also been trying to work out an arrangement with Pakistan for curtailing the ISI’s power. During Gilani’s visit to Washington President Bush reportedly expressed these concerns. Another difficult issue between the two countries is that the US has used predator drones and missile strikes against suspected Taliban militants and al-Qaeda operatives inside Pakistan. On June 11, US forces bombed a border post and killed 11 Pakistani soldiers inflaming anti-American sentiment. The latest deadly strike: a missile that hit a religious school just inside Pakistan's border with Afghanistan. Occurred just hours before the meeting between Bush and Gilani. At a joint press conference neither the President nor the Prime minister mentioned these attacks preferring to show that that the US-Pakistan bond is tight and intact despite tensions.
Transcript
CARLO BASILONE (VOICEOVER): According to Pakistan's Dawn newspaper, during his visit to Washington this week, Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani had an exclusive meeting with CIA chief Michael V. Hayden. Hayden presented him with a charge sheet on Pakistani intelligence agencies’ alleged involvement in jihadi activities. A senior official familiar with the talks said, “Some information in the charge-sheet were so damning that the Pakistanis could not deny them.” The New York Times reported that US intelligence agencies believe that members of Pakistan’s spy service, the Directorate of Inter-Services Intelligence, or ISI, helped plan the deadly July 7 bombing of India’s embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan. Fifty-four people were killed in that attack. Pakistan's government admitted Friday that it needs to purge Taliban sympathizers from the ISI, but it angrily denied a report that the agency helped plan the bombing in Kabul. The US also suspects rogue elements in the ISI of giving militants sensitive information that helps them launch attacks from Pakistan's tribal regions into bordering Afghanistan. They have also been trying to work out an arrangement with Pakistan for curtailing the ISI’s power. During Gilani’s visit to Washington President Bush reportedly expressed these concerns. Another difficult issue between the two countries is that the US has used predator drones and missile strikes against suspected Taliban militants and al-Qaeda operatives inside Pakistan. On June 11, US forces bombed a border post and killed 11 Pakistani soldiers, inflaming anti-American sentiment. The latest deadly strike, a missile that hit a religious school just inside Pakistan's border with Afghanistan, killing six, occurred just hours before the meeting between Bush and Gilani. At a joint press conference, neither the president nor the prime minister mentioned these attacks, preferring to show that that the US-Pakistan bond is tight and intact despite tensions. But Gilani did discuss the problem in an interview on the PBS Newshour.~~~INTERVIEWER: Do you have any understanding with the US government allowing those strikes?YOUSUF RAZA GILANI, PRIME MINISTER OF PAKISTAN: No. We believe in sovereignty of the country, and naturally nobody likes it.INTERVIEWER: So the US is violating your sovereignty when it launches a strike like that.GILANI: We have discussed with them, given our strategy to them. If there is a credible or actionable information and you give it to us, we'll perform the duty ourselves. And in the future, there will be more cooperation on the intelligence side.DISCLAIMER:Please note that TRNN transcripts are typed from a recording of the program; The Real News Network cannot guarantee their complete accuracy.
