Pakistan slashes U.S. accusation against its intelligence agency

Pakistan slashes U.S. accusation against its intelligence agency

Pakistan on Friday quickly comes up with a public condemnation of the top U.S. defense officials' remarks that the country's main intelligence agency has connections with an al-Qaeda-linked militant group and that both were behind last week's brazen attack on the U.S. embassy and the NATO headquarters in Afghan capital Kabul.

U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta blamed Haqqani network after the Sept. 13 attack in the heart of Kabul and highly-secured zone which had killed five Afghan policemen and 10 civilians in a 20-hour gun-battle. Panetta had warned unilateral action against the Haqqani network, which the U.S. intelligence says operates from Pakistan's North Waziristan tribal region.

Pakistan insists that the Haqqani group, led by Sirajuddin Haqqani, known as Khalifa, is the product of the 1979-89 Jehad, or Holy War, against the erstwhile Soviets and is no more on Pakistani soil. But the U.S. officials are not convinced by Pakistan' s notion and the Chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Mike Mullen, in his blunt remarks on Thursday called the Haqqani network a "veritable arm" of Pakistan's intelligence service and accused Pakistan of "exporting" violent extremism to Afghanistan.

"The Haqqani network ... acts as a veritable arm of Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence Agency, (ISI)" he said to a U.S. Senate panel in Washington, which was aired across the world.

"With ISI support, Haqqani operatives planned and conducted ( Sept. 11) truck bomb attack, as well as the assault on our embassy, " Mullen said.

U.S. ambassador in Islamabad Cameron Munter gave similar comments in an interview with Pakistan's state radio this week. Pakistani government had either avoided reaction or expressed mild words in reaction by the country's Interior Minister and the Foreign Ministry spokesperson who both on Thursday just denied the U.S. claims of Pakistan's links with the Haqqani network.

But Islamabad's tone was changed and Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar, which usually avoids media interviews, showed furious reaction to Mike Mullen's remarks.

"We have strong reservations about the U.S. accusations and we condemn this. Anything that is said about an ally, about a partner publicly to recriminate, to humiliate is not acceptable," she told Geo Television in an interview in New York and aired across Pakistan. She is in New York to lead Pakistan's delegation to the UN General Assembly.

"I have very strong reservations with all of these allegations because these are nothing more than allegations right now and this is not in the spirit of partnership," the Foreign Minister said and warned that the U.S. will loose partner in the war on terror and it has been clearly conveyed to the American officials.

There had been several meetings between the top Pakistani and U. S. leadership both in Pakistan and the U.S. to bridge the trust deficit but Mullen's remarks and Pakistan's befitting response shows the ties have plunged to a new low.

Hina Rabbani Khar had a three-and-half-hour meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in New York on Sunday. Pakistan ' s Army Chief met Mike Mullen at Spain on the sidelines of NATO military officials, and ISI chief met with the CIA head in Washington this week and the FBI Director met Pakistan's Interior Minister in Islamabad this week. All the meetings focused on Haqqani network and how to restore confidence. But series of statements from the U.S. top defense and intelligence officials have annoyed Pakistani leaders. Pakistani foreign affairs experts believe that the U.S. has failed to check Taliban attacks in the Afghan capital and is mounting pressure and shifting blame on Pakistan.

There are no signs of improvement in bilateral relationship despite high level meeting and there was another serious setback for ties as the U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee on Thursday passed a bill that makes "all" U.S. financial assistance to the Government of Pakistan privy to conditions of cooperation against the Hqqani network and other terror groups associated with al Qaeda. Some opposition parties and experts are asking Pakistan it is time to reject the conditional U.S. aid and to preserve sovereignty of the country. Many Pakistanis view Pakistan's alliance with the U.S. as unnatural and want a review of relationship with the U.S. and to shift focus to regional and neighboring countries.

Editor: Wang Guanqun

English.news.cn   2011-09-23 22:02:13 FeedbackPrintRSS
by Tahir Khan

ISLAMABAD, Sept. 23 (Xinhua)