Indo-US ties bad for US staff in Pakistan

WASHINGTON: As FBI director Robert Mueller headed towards Islamabad after his successful New Delhi visit, a top US diplomat cautioned him about the tough time they were experiencing inside Pak
Indo-US ties bad for US staff in Pakistan
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WASHINGTON: As FBI director Robert Mueller headed towards Islamabad after his successful New Delhi visit, a top US diplomat cautioned him about the tough time they were experiencing inside Pakistan mainly because of the growing US-India relationship.

A secret American diplomatic cable dated February 22, 2010 coming out of the US embassy in Islamabad and addressed to Mueller, who was then in New Delhi, said that cooperation has frequently been hampered by suspicion in Pakistan military and intelligence establishment about US intentions and objectives. “Among other things, the Pakistanis believe that we have favoured India over Pakistan — most notably, by approving civil-nuclear cooperation with India — and that we aim to dismantle Pakistan’s nuclear weapons programme, which, in light of their conventional military disadvantage vis-a-vis India, they consider critical to their national security,” the US cable, which was released by WikiLeaks, said.

“... the military and intelligence establishment has taken steps since Spring 2009 to hamper the operations of the embassy,” it said. The steps included denying import permits for armoured vehicles for embassy use, putting up roadblocks for acquiring additional land for the embassy’s expansion and harassing embassy personnel by stopping and detaining embassy vehicles... However, we expect we will have to continue to push back against such impediments for the foreseeable future.”

Muller was advised to acknowledge the sacrifices made by Pakistan’s law enforcement agencies and the pressure the terrorist attacks have placed on their resources. The FBI director was also told by the US embassy in Islamabad that domestic politics is dominated by uncertainty about the fate of President  Zardari. “He enjoys approval ratings in the 20 per cent range and has repeatedly clashed with key power centres, including the military, politically ambitious Supreme Court Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry, and opposition leader Nawaz Sharif,” it said.

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