The CIA's Not So-Secret Drone War In Pakistan

Image: The C.I.A. has carried out hundreds of strikes in Pakistan's tribal areas. The New York Times

A Secret Deal On Drones, Sealed In Blood -- New York Times

Nek Muhammad knew he was being followed.

On a hot day in June 2004, the Pashtun tribesman was lounging inside a mud compound in South Waziristan, speaking by satellite phone to one of the many reporters who regularly interviewed him on how he had fought and humbled Pakistan’s army in the country’s western mountains. He asked one of his followers about the strange, metallic bird hovering above him.

Less than 24 hours later, a missile tore through the compound, severing Mr. Muhammad’s left leg and killing him and several others, including two boys, ages 10 and 16. A Pakistani military spokesman was quick to claim responsibility for the attack, saying that Pakistani forces had fired at the compound.

That was a lie.

Read more ....

My Comment: No surprises in this report .... I have chronicled more than once in this blog the close cooperation between the U.S. and Pakistan in hunting down their respective enemies in Pakistan's tribal areas. But what is noteworthy about this New York Times post are the details behind this relationship .... i.e. the names, dates, and understandings .... and the dynamics for both Pakistan and the U.S. to conduct this war in this part of Pakistan.

More News On The U.S. Pakistan Deal To Conduct Drone Operations In Pakistan's Tribal Regions

US drone war deal 'in return for killing Pakistani militant in CIA missile strike' -- The Telegraph
The secret kill deal that began CIA’s Pakistan drone war -- Natasha Lennard, Slate
Pakistan allowed US drone strikes under secret deal: NYT -- International News
Terror camps targeting India spared from drone strikes in ISI-CIA deal -- Indian Express
Pakistan allowed US drone strikes in a secret deal with CIA -- Khaama Press
Pakistan denies deal over drone strikes -- UPI
What We Didn't Know About the Start of America's Drone War Killed Thousands -- Connor Simpson, The Atlantic

Pakistan's Intelligence Services Have Broken All Ties With The CIA

Ahmed Shuja Pasha, the Director General of Inter-Services Intelligence (far right). Reuters

Osama bin Laden Dead: Angry Pakistan Drops Intelligence Sharing With West -- The Telegraph

Pakistan's intelligence services are refusing to share details of suspects or plots with their American counterparts in protest at the US operation to kill Osama bin Laden, raising the potential threat of attacks on Western cities.

In the past, Pakistani agents have been credited with helping identify targets for drone strikes and providing data to the CIA on plans being hatched in its lawless tribal areas.

Now buffeted and embarrassed by being kept in the dark for months as the US closed in on the al-Qaeda leader's bolthole, little more than 30 miles from the Pakistani capital Islamabad, agents with the Inter-Services Intelligence directorate have begun to withhold crucial operational details about militants on its territory.

Read more ....

More News On The Break In Cooperation Between The CIA And Pakistan's ISI

ISI drops intelligence sharing with CIA: report -- The International News
ISI stops intelligence sharing with CIA -- Hindustan Times
ISI refuses intelligence-sharing with CIA: Report -- Express Tribune
Berating General Pasha: Pakistan's Spy Chief Gets a Tongue-Lashing -- Time Magazine
Pakistan's army chief refuses to cooperate in rooting out Islamists -- Rick Moran, American Thinker

My Comment: From the outside the impression is that Pakistan's ISI is busily running around in trying to explain what is obviously a massive intelligence failure on its part. While blaming the U.S. is easy, the reality on the ground is that it is obvious that Bin Laden had an extensive support structure in Pakistan, and both he and this support structure were actively involved in planning terror attacks against the U.S.

Who was involved in supporting Bin Laden is the big secret right now .... and this is information that the U.S. is not sharing with anyone. This lack in sharing of information .... and not knowing what the U.S. knows .... is probably what is causing this break in relations between the two countries. As time goes by, I expect these relations to get even worse .... and what is an intelligence breaking of relations be translated into a political break in relations, starting with cutting back U.S. military aid to the Pakistani government and Pakistan threatening to cut NATO supply lines to Afghanistan.

Has Paying Off Pakistan's Intelligence Agnecy Been Worth It?

CIA Says It Gets Its Money's Worth From Pakistani Spy Agency -- L.A. Times

It has given hundreds of millions to the ISI, for operations as well as rewards for the capture or death of terrorist suspects. Despite fears of corruption, it is money well-spent, ex-officials say.

Reporting from Washington - The CIA has funneled hundreds of millions of dollars to Pakistan's intelligence service since the Sept. 11 attacks, accounting for as much as one-third of the foreign spy agency's annual budget, current and former U.S. officials say.

The Inter-Services Intelligence agency also has collected tens of millions of dollars through a classified CIA program that pays for the capture or killing of wanted militants, a clandestine counterpart to the rewards publicly offered by the State Department, officials said.

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My Comment: I am very skeptical that paying off Pakistan's Intelligence Agencies has been worth it. The Taliban are gaining strength in their war against U.S. soldiers and our allies in Afghanistan .... all possible because of safe havens in Pakistan. Osama Bin Laden and other top Al Qaeda leaders are still roaming freely in Pakistan .... years after being forced out of Afghanistan by U.S./Afghan Alliance forces. Rumors of Pakistan ISI support of Taliban factions are accepted as fact .... and speculation that the ISI was involved in the assassination of key Pakistan political leaders (Benazir Bhutto being one of them) still make the rounds.

I am not even going to talk about the corruption and the diversion of public funds to personal projects and bank accounts that Pakistani corruption is well known for, as well as Pakistan ISI support for terror groups that are at war with India ... a U.S. ally in the war against terror.

From where I am standing .... the only thing that we have to show for the hundreds of millions of dollars that this organization has received from us are a few dead bodies from middle to upper middle levels of Al Qaeda and the Taliban, and a lot of dead civilians. The only upper level leader in the Taliban that was killed from a targeted CIA strike (helped with information from the ISI) was Baitullah Mehsud, but he was more of a threat to Pakistan than to the allied forces fighting the Taliban in neighboring Afghanistan. Hmmmm .... coincidence?

If Pakistan's ISI has helped us in our war against the Taliban and Al Qaeda .... that information must still be classified top secret, because I certainoy have not seen enough to accept the premise that this money has been well spent.