CIA chief leaves Pak without deal on resetting ties with ISI

Islamabad, Jun 12: CIA chief Leon Panetta has left Pakistan without reaching a deal on resetting the troubled relationship with ISI during meetings with the country's top military leaders.

Panetta, who arrived on an unscheduled visit on Friday evening, did not meet anyone other than army chief Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani and ISI head Lt Gen Ahmed Shuja Pasha, a media report said here today.

He met the two leaders at Army House in Rawalpindi over dinner and discussed what was described by the Inter-Services Public Relations as a "framework for future intelligence sharing."

The CIA chief's departure morning without routine calls on President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani was seen by observers as a sign of the stalemate in his discussions with the military leadership, the Dawn newspaper reported.

According to the daily's sources, Panetta was "surprised by the rigidity shown by the military, which went to the extent of even declining an offer by Washington of security assistance."

Government officials insisted that unlike in the past, Panetta was not scheduled to meet anyone else during his visit, the report said.

US media reports said Panetta had confronted Pakistan's military leadership with evidence of collusion between militants and Pakistani security officials, causing fresh strains in the troubled relations between the two countries. Panetta presented the evidence during his meeting with Kayani and Pasha.

PTI