CIA chief in Pak recalled after his identity revealed
Dec 18: The top CIA official in Pakistan has been called back home from Islamabad after his cover was blown allegedly by ISI, resulting in serious threat to his life. The "purposeful" leaking of identity of the CIA station chief in Islamabad -- named in Pakistani media as Jonathan Banks -- allegedly by the ISI is in retaliation of a law suit filed against the Pakistani spy agency's chief Ahmed Shuja Pasha in a New York court over the Mumbai terrorist attacks, news reports here said. The CIA official was rushed out of the agency's massive station in Islamabad on the same day that President Barack Obama issued a new warning to Pakistan's leaders that "terrorist safe havens within their borders must be dealt with," The Washington Post said, referring to Thursday's developments. The CIA official's continued presence in the Pakistani capital posed a serious threat to his life after his identity was exposed following which he has been receiving threatening calls, the American media reported, without naming him. "The American officials said they strongly suspected that operatives of Pakistan's powerful spy service, the Directorate for Inter-Services Intelligence, had a hand in revealing the CIA officer's identity -- possibly in retaliation for a civil lawsuit filed in Brooklyn last month implicating the ISI chief in the Mumbai terrorist attacks of November 2008," 'The New York Times' reported. The development brings a new low in the relationship between the intelligence agencies of the United States and Pakistan, which had strained of late. "The American spy's hurried departure is the latest evidence of mounting tensions between two uneasy allies, with the Obama administration's strategy for ending the war in Afghanistan hinging on the cooperation of Pakistan in the hunt for militants in the mountains that border those two countries. The tensions could intensify in the coming months with the prospect of more American pressure on Pakistan," The New York Times said. The Washington Post also said the allegation marks a new low in the relationship between the CIA and its Pakistani counterpart at a time when both intelligence services are under pressure to root out militant groups and the CIA is waging a vastly accelerated campaign of drone strikes. A US intelligence official told the Post that the CIA head in Islamabad became the target of death threats after his cover was blown. The station chief, the official said, was recalled to CIA headquarters because "terrorist threats against him in Pakistan were of such a serious nature that it would be imprudent not to act."
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