Thaindian News

Islamabad, April 30(ANI): The appointment of General David H. Petraeus as Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Director could further incense relations between Islamabad and Washington, which are already strained over drone strikes in Pakistan’s militant-infested tribal region and disagreements over the war in neighbouring Afghanistan.

General Petraeus’s appointment as CIA chief puts him more squarely than ever in conflict with Pakistan, whose military leadership does not regard him as a friend, and where he will now have direct control over the controversial drone campaign in the country, The New York Times reports.

Pakistani and US officials said that General Petraeus’ selection could further inflame relations between the two nations- which are already at one of their lowest points- with recriminations over myriad issues aired publicly like never before, the report said.

The usually secretive leader of the Pakistani Army, General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, has made little secret of his distaste for General Petraeus, calling him a political general, it added.

According to the report, General Petraeus has privately expressed outrage at what US officials say is the Pakistani main spy agency’s most blatant support yet for fighters based in Pakistan who are carrying out attacks against American troops in Afghanistan.

Officials on both sides say they expect the US-Pak relationship to become increasingly adversarial as they manoeuvre the endgame in Afghanistan, where both nations have deep- and conflicting- security interests, the report said.

They are of the view that repairing the frayed ties between the CIA and Pakistan’s premier spy agency, the Inter-Services Intelligence Directorate (ISI), will be difficult, it added.

“In its current form, the relationship is almost unworkable,” said Dennis C. Blair, a former American director of national intelligence. “There has to be a major restructuring. The ISI jams the CIA all it wants and pays no penalties.”

One American military official sought to play down the animosity with Pakistani officials, noting that the general had regularly met with the Pakistanis for nearly three years, most recently on Monday.

Still, the official acknowledged that with General Petraeus leading the CIA, “the pressure may be more strategic, deliberate and focused- to the extent that it can be.”

“The relationship between the two countries is very tense right now,” said Representative William M. Thornberry of Texas, a senior Republican on the House Armed Services Committee, who visited Pakistan last week.

“And the Pakistan government fuels the anti-American public opinion to increase pressure on us,” he added.

A former Pakistani general who speaks to General Kayani said he believed that the Pakistan Army chief had concluded that the drone campaign should end because it hurt the army’s reputation among the Pakistani public.

According to the report, the drone campaign, which the CIA has run against militants in Pakistan’s tribal areas since 2004, will now become the preserve of General Petraeus, and it has moved to centre stage, at least for the Pakistanis. (ANI)