DTN News - PAKISTAN NEWS: US Turns Up The Heat On Pakistan’s Spy Agency
(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - September 23, 2011: Washington’s stunning charge that Pakistan’s spy service is backing violence against US targets in Afghanistan has pushed Islamabad into a tight corner: either it cleans up the powerful agency or it faces the wrath of an angry superpower.
There has never been much doubt in Washington that the shadowy Inter-Services Intelligence agency (ISI) plays a “double game”, supporting some militants to extend its influence in Afghanistan and counter India, while targeting others.
But the gloves came off on Thursday when US Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Mike Mullen bluntly described the Haqqani militant network as a “veritable arm” of the ISI and accused Pakistan of providing support for the group’s Sept. 13 brazen attack on the US embassy in Kabul.
It was the most serious allegation levelled by Washington against the nuclear-armed South Asian nation since they allied in the war on terror in 2001, and the first time it has held Islamabad responsible for an attack against the United States.
“Mullen has finally put Pakistan on the spot and I don’t think he has left any ambiguity about the feelings of the US about the ISI,” said Rasul Bakhsh Rais, an Islamabad-based academic and political columnist. “Mullen has thrown the ball into Pakistan’s court.”
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