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| India-Pakistan |
| Reform ISI: US |
| 2008-09-17 |
| The Inter-Services Intelligence agency (ISI) needs reform but there is no indication this is happening yet, the top US diplomat for South Asia said on Monday. "It has to be done," Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs Richard Boucher said of revamping the ISI. Asked if he had seen signs of reform, he told Reuters, "No, I don't have anything in particular I would point to right now." Despite its Pakistan's new government led by Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani tried to rein in the ISI in July by placing it under the Interior Ministry's control, only to reverse course within days in an embarrassing flip-flop. Asked why the new Pakistani government was more likely to act than under its predecessor, General (r) Pervez Musharraf, Boucher replied, "It's sad to say, but the problem has become more and more acute." Pointing to growing militant violence inside Pakistan, Boucher said, "Increasingly, the problem is not seen as doing what the US wants but doing what is necessary for the future of Pakistan." |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #8 Re: #7 Is this another Obama initiative? Unlikely, there has been no flip flopping of position. |
| Posted by: USN, Ret. 2008-09-17 14:55 |
| #7 Is this another Obama initiative? |
| Posted by: Jack is Back! 2008-09-17 11:46 |
| #6 A few months ago there was in Rantburg a text from an Indian telling: "Pakistan is not a state who has an army, it is an army who has a state". And I am beginning to believe it is not an Army who has a secret service but a secret service who has its own army. |
| Posted by: JFM 2008-09-17 09:43 |
| #5 to continue Alaska Paul's thought - ...or the CIA. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2008-09-17 08:52 |
| #4 the ISI is viewed with deep suspicion by US for retaining links to the Taliban That's like saying Disney has links to Mickey Mouse. |
| Posted by: Spot 2008-09-17 08:06 |
| #3 The ISI is staffed by Army Officers, rotated in for 3 years terms, and is lead by an Army General. It is the Pakistan Military that needs to be 'reformed'. |
| Posted by: Cherelet and Tenille1095 2008-09-17 04:15 |
| #2 The Inter-Services Intelligence agency (ISI) needs reform The wonderful world of "top US diplomacy". |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2008-09-17 04:14 |
| #1 The ISI has about as much of a chance of reforming itself as a snowball in hell, or Congress, for that matter. |
| Posted by: Alaska Paul in Tok, AK 2008-09-17 03:32 |