Bad News Timing of US drone strike questioned by Munter

US Ambassador to Pakistan Cameron Munter. — Photo by AP

ISLAMABAD: The American ambassador to Islamabad phoned Washington with an urgent plea: Stop an imminent CIA drone strike against militants on the Pakistani side of the Afghan border.
He feared the timing of the attack would further damage ties with Islamabad, coming only a day after the government grudgingly freed a CIA contractor held for weeks for killing two Pakistanis.
Ambassador Cameron Munter’s rare request, disclosed to The Associated Press by several US officials, was forwarded to the head of the CIA, who dismissed it.
US officials said Leon Panetta’s decision was driven by anger at Pakistan for imprisoning Raymond Davis for so long and a belief that the militants being targeted were too important to pass up.
The deadly March 17 attack helped send the US-Pakistan relationship into a tailspin from which it has not recovered.
The timing of the strike, and others that followed, outraged Pakistani officials, complicating US efforts to win Pakistani cooperation on the Afghan war and retain support for the drone program.
Newly revealed details of the drone raids were provided by US and Pakistani officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the program.
Among them were attacks that followed an April visit by Pakistan’s spy chief to Washington as well as trips here by Sen. John Kerry and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton after the American raid that killed Osama bin Laden in a Pakistani military town in May.
Seven years into a secret program that has killed scores of al-Qaida and Taliban fighters, there are increasing questions over whether it is worth the diplomatic backlash in Pakistan.
President Barack Obama has dramatically ramped up the program, unleashing more than 200 strikes since he took office compared to fewer than 50 during the Bush administration.
The Pakistani government is widely believed to have supported the program in the past and even allowed the drones to take off from bases inside Pakistan, but that support has waned as relations between the two countries have soured.
The attacks have also strained the relationship between the US State Department and the CIA, where officials argue that killing militants who threaten US interests should take priority over political considerations, said US officials.
That tension was clearly visible between Ambassador Munter and the CIA station chief in Islamabad, who recently left his post because of illness, said a senior Western official in the region.
”When the doors are closed they are shouting at each other, but once the doors are open they are congenial in front of the embassy staff,” said the official.
The hard-charging station chief also clashed with the head of Pakistan’s main intelligence agency, the ISI, over drone strikes, said a Pakistani official.
The CIA does not comment on the drone program. A US official familiar with the issue played down the tension.
”It is very, very rare for the chief of mission to express concern about any particular operation,” the official said, referring to the ambassador. ”When concerns are raised, they’re always given close consideration.”
Munter must sign off on every planned drone attack in Pakistan, although he rarely voices an objection, said a former aide to the ambassador. If Munter disagrees with a planned strike, the CIA director can appeal to him, said two U.S. officials, providing the most detailed description of the process to date.
Clinton can also weigh in, and has done so at least once, one US official said. On March 17, Munter used the embassy’s secure line in an attempt to stop an imminent drone strike.
His concern was that the strike, a day after the release of the CIA contractor Davis, would set back Washington’s already shaky relations with Islamabad, said the former aide and a senior US official.
The Davis case had left bad feelings on both sides. On Jan. 27 in Lahore, Davis shot to death two Pakistanis who he said were trying to rob him, enraging many people in a country where anti-American sentiment is high.
The US insisted Davis had immunity from prosecution, but he was not released until March 16 under a deal that compensated the victims’ families. Pakistan’s security agencies came under intense domestic criticism for freeing him.
Munter’s request went to the State Department and was forwarded to then-CIA director Panetta, now secretary of defense, who insisted on going ahead, said the officials. It is unclear whether Clinton was involved in the decision.
The former aide said the strike reflected the CIA’s anger at the ISI, which it blamed for keeping Davis in prison for seven weeks.
”It was in retaliation for Davis,” the aide said. ”The CIA was angry.” The CIA also believed it was vital to kill the militants targeted in the strike in the Datta Khel area of North Waziristan, said the senior US official.

CIA’s Pakistan chief leaves country

President Barack Obama's administration recently suspended about a third of its $2.7 billion annual defense aid to Pakistan.-AP photo

WASHINGTON: The CIA’s Islamabad station chief, who oversaw the intelligence team that uncovered Osama bin Laden’s hideout, has left Pakistan for medical reasons, a US official said.
The CIA declined to comment on the matter. “The chief of station is a respected, senior officer who had the full faith and confidence of folks back in Washington,” the US official told AFP on condition of anonymity.
“Most people will agree the officer’s role in one of the greatest intelligence victories of all time means this person was pretty darn effective, no matter what the Pakistanis may think.”
ABC News, citing US and Pakistani officials, said the officer who headed one of the Central Intelligence Agency’s most sensitive positions worldwide was not expected to return.
It was the second such departure in seven months from the post, after his predecessor was forced to leave when a Pakistani official admitted his name had been leaked.
Despite the quick turnover at the key office, US officials told ABC that it would not hamper US intelligence efforts in Pakistan.
US and Pakistani officials told ABC they hoped the station chief’s departure would pave the way for smoother ties between the CIA and Pakistan’s ISI intelligence agency, noting the departing officer had an “extremely tense”relationship with his counterparts in the ISI.
“Pakistan has been harassing US personnel working in the country for months,” a US official told ABC. A Pakistani intelligence official, meanwhile, said “there is no trust.”

Abbottabad commission meets today

The commission is required to look into security deficiencies, if any, and make recommendations on how to prevent such incidents in future. – File Photo by AFP

ISLAMABAD: The judicial commission investigating the May 2 raid by US Commandos in Abbottabad will meet here on Monday.
Although the commission appears to have made little headway in the probe so far it is expected that in its second or subsequent meetings it will hear from intelligence agencies whether they were aware of the presence of Osama bin Laden in Abbottabad and about the US raid.
A member of the commission told this correspondent on Sunday that the statements of senior officials of ISI or another intelligence agency might be recorded on Monday and the information might clarify a few points.Mystery shrouds the raid because many questions raised about it are yet to be answered, including the presence of Osama in the three-storey mansion in Abbottabad and 40-minute action of the US commandos the statements may throw light on the role of Pakistani security and the role of security and intelligence agencies in the whole episode.
The commission is required to look into security deficiencies, if any, and make recommendations on how to prevent such incidents in future.
The terms of reference of the commission require it to ascertain facts about the presence of Osama in Pakistan; investigate circumstances and facts regarding the US operation; determine the nature, background and causes of lapses by the authorities concerned, if any; and make recommendations.
The member, who did not want to be named, said the statement made by Lt-Gen (retd) Nadeem Ahmed in an interview would also be taken up in the meeting.
“The issue will be raised and he will be asked to avoid giving statements regarding investigation,” he said.
The retired general, who is a member of the commission, had said in the interview with a foreign radio channel that the ISI had not been aware of Osama’s presence in Abbottabad.
“The commission chief has issued a general instruction for all members that they should avoid their appearance in the media by any means till the investigation is completed,” the member said.
The remarks of Gen Ahmed trigged a controversy that compelled the head of the commission, Justice Javed Iqbal, to come out with a clarification by saying that those were Gen Ahmed’s personal views and not the finding of the commission.
Talking to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, the retired general had said he did not believe Pakistani intelligence services or military had helped shelter the Al Qaeda leader.“Irrespective of what the US says, I have absolutely not an iota of doubt on this, that no government in Pakistan, no military in Pakistan, no intelligence organisation in Pakistan would do such a stupid thing,” he said.