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Pakistan's US envoy resigns over memo
Pakistan's ambassador to Washington has been forced to resign after the government ordered an investigation into claims he sought American help to oust his country's military and intelligence chiefs. Husain Haqqani finally resigned following a series of allegations by an influential Pakistani-American businessman who said he had passed a secret memo last May from the ambassador to Adml Mike Mullen, then America's most senior military chief, asking for US help to prevent a coup. The businessman, Mansoor Ijaz, said the memo offered to install a "new national security team" and to dismantle sections of Pakistan's ISI intelligence service which supported terrorist groups in Afghanistan. It had been passed on with the blessing of President Asif Zardari, he suggested. The disclosure of the memo provoked a crisis in the already tense relationship between Pakistan's elected government and its powerful military, which continues to control the country's defence spending budget and foreign policy. Retired senior military figures said the Army chief General Kayani was furious over the claims and had demanded Mr Haqqani's resignation to settle the dispute. Posted by: tipper 2011-11-22 |
| http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=333901 |