*Analysis: On April 8, 2009., Director General Inter-Services Intelligence Lt Gen. Shuja Pasha refused to meet Richard Holbrooke and Admiral Mike Mullen in Islamabad as a protest that ISI has links with Taliban and Islamic extremists groups. For a change, the U.S. strategy has worked by choking the pipeline of economic and military aid, which made Pakistan administration realised the value of U.S. aid and promoted Lt Gen. Shuja Pasha in Washington for clarification on ISI position with Taliban. It seems U.S. adminstraion will take its course setting meeting with Lt Gen. Shuja Pasha, as there is no schedule or time set so far on this aspect. (DTN Defense-Technology News)
(NSI News Source Info) WASHINGTON - April 15, 2009: Director General Inter-Services Intelligence Lt Gen. Shuja Pasha is arriving in the United States late Tuesday on a two-day visit for talks on intelligence cooperation, as the US military chief Admiral Michael Mullen warned that violence in Afghanistan is set to rise in the coming months. 
US Chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff, Adm. Mike Mullen and Navy Rear Adm. Scott van Buskirk talk with Chief of Army Staff, Gen. Ashfaq Kayani and Director General ISI Major Gen. Ahmad Shuja Pasha.
Official sources in Washington said that Gen. Pasha is expected to meet the CIA chief and other US intelligence and security officials. So far no meeting is scheduled with senior military or political officials.
His talks, however, are expected to focus enhancing intelligence cooperation between the two countries in the fight against Taliban and al Qaeda militants.
Lt Gen. Shuja Pasha’s visit to the US comes amidst increasing concerns voiced by US generals regarding the ISI’s alleged relationship with militant organisations.
During a recent visit to Pakistan, Admiral Mike Mullen briefed a select group of media personnel on US apprehensions regarding the ISI’s alleged support for certain organisations.
On the day, Gen. Pasha arrived in Washington, a leading news magazine, US News and World Report, warned that for Afghan and American officers fighting the Taliban, ‘the most persistent worry is that ISI operatives share sensitive information about future operations with the militants.’
Last week, Gen. David Petraeus, commander of the US forces for the greater Middle East region which includes both Afghanistan and Pakistan, told a congressional panel that he too had been concerned about the ISI leaking information to the Taliban.
As a result, many within the US military remain suspicious about how much cooperation, particularly in intelligence matters, can really occur with Pakistani forces, he said.
But he also said that the US ‘must do everything we can to assist’ the Pakistanis but this ‘has to be done very carefully.’
Admiral Mullen, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, has also expressed similar concerns about the ISI, saying that has been ‘very attached’ to many of these extremist organisations.
He warned that ‘in the long run, they have got to completely cut ties with those in order to really move in the right direction.’
‘The ISI fundamentally has to change its strategic approach, which has been clear to focus on India as well as Afghanistan,’ he said. ‘And I don't believe they can make a lot of progress until that actually occurs.’
Admiral Mullen said the Pakistani Army chief had appointed in Lt Gen. Pasha, ‘one of his best guys’, as the new director of ISI. ‘I'm encouraged with his (Gen. Kayani’s) views and I'm encouraged with how he sees the problem.’ But ‘it's going to take some time to get at it inside ISI’.
Also on Tuesday, Admiral Mullen warned that the arrival of extra US troops in Afghanistan would increase violence there.
‘I look forward to a very active year. I want to be clear that my expectations are as we add more troops, the violence level in Afghanistan is going to go up,’ he told ABC television.
‘That said, it will put us in a position to start to turn the tide and provide security for the Afghan people which is absolutely critical in addition to training the Afghan forces, which I expect to improve significantly over the next 12 months,’ he said.
The United States is sending an additional 21,000 troops to Afghanistan to join some 38,000 already deployed there.
‘I'm very sure that the additional 17,000 combat troops, plus the additional 4,000 training troops, will have the right impact,’ Admiral Mullen said.
US Chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff, Adm. Mike Mullen and Navy Rear Adm. Scott van Buskirk talk with Chief of Army Staff, Gen. Ashfaq Kayani and Director General ISI Major Gen. Ahmad Shuja Pasha.
Official sources in Washington said that Gen. Pasha is expected to meet the CIA chief and other US intelligence and security officials. So far no meeting is scheduled with senior military or political officials.
His talks, however, are expected to focus enhancing intelligence cooperation between the two countries in the fight against Taliban and al Qaeda militants.
Lt Gen. Shuja Pasha’s visit to the US comes amidst increasing concerns voiced by US generals regarding the ISI’s alleged relationship with militant organisations.
During a recent visit to Pakistan, Admiral Mike Mullen briefed a select group of media personnel on US apprehensions regarding the ISI’s alleged support for certain organisations.
On the day, Gen. Pasha arrived in Washington, a leading news magazine, US News and World Report, warned that for Afghan and American officers fighting the Taliban, ‘the most persistent worry is that ISI operatives share sensitive information about future operations with the militants.’
Last week, Gen. David Petraeus, commander of the US forces for the greater Middle East region which includes both Afghanistan and Pakistan, told a congressional panel that he too had been concerned about the ISI leaking information to the Taliban.
As a result, many within the US military remain suspicious about how much cooperation, particularly in intelligence matters, can really occur with Pakistani forces, he said.
But he also said that the US ‘must do everything we can to assist’ the Pakistanis but this ‘has to be done very carefully.’
Admiral Mullen, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, has also expressed similar concerns about the ISI, saying that has been ‘very attached’ to many of these extremist organisations.
He warned that ‘in the long run, they have got to completely cut ties with those in order to really move in the right direction.’
‘The ISI fundamentally has to change its strategic approach, which has been clear to focus on India as well as Afghanistan,’ he said. ‘And I don't believe they can make a lot of progress until that actually occurs.’
Admiral Mullen said the Pakistani Army chief had appointed in Lt Gen. Pasha, ‘one of his best guys’, as the new director of ISI. ‘I'm encouraged with his (Gen. Kayani’s) views and I'm encouraged with how he sees the problem.’ But ‘it's going to take some time to get at it inside ISI’.
Also on Tuesday, Admiral Mullen warned that the arrival of extra US troops in Afghanistan would increase violence there.
‘I look forward to a very active year. I want to be clear that my expectations are as we add more troops, the violence level in Afghanistan is going to go up,’ he told ABC television.
‘That said, it will put us in a position to start to turn the tide and provide security for the Afghan people which is absolutely critical in addition to training the Afghan forces, which I expect to improve significantly over the next 12 months,’ he said.
The United States is sending an additional 21,000 troops to Afghanistan to join some 38,000 already deployed there.
‘I'm very sure that the additional 17,000 combat troops, plus the additional 4,000 training troops, will have the right impact,’ Admiral Mullen said.
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