Pakistan Feature: Is This a "Crisis" in Relations Between CIA and Islamabad?

On Tuesday, both The Washington Post and The New York Times reported on Pakistani demands that the Central Intelligence Agency restrict its operations, including drone strikes, inside the country. The Post reported, from US and Pakistani officials, of Pakistan's demand that Washington "impose new limits on CIA drone strikes in their country and...expel agency operatives whose missions are not approved by Islamabad".

The Times claimed that the demand arose from the arrest of Raymond A. Davis, a CIA security officer who killed two men in January during what he claimed was a robbery attempt. Davis was eventually allowed to leave Pakistan after $2.3 million was paid in compensation to the families of the dead men.

A Pakistani official said about 335 American personnel --- CIA officers, contractors, and Special Operations forces — were being asked to leave the country. It is unclear how deep a cut this would be in the CIA presence, but officials said it would be a 25 to 40% reduction in Special Operations forces and the removal of all US contractors.

The Times then put Washington's spin on the Pakistani stance: "The demands appeared severe enough to badly hamper American efforts — either through drone strikes or Pakistani military training --- to combat militants who use Pakistan as a base to fight American forces in Afghanistan and plot terrorist attacks abroad." The Post adds, "Perhaps most worrisome for U.S. officials is the threat to place new limits on the drone campaign."

This morning, the US-Pakistani dance moves to a different beat. There is the show of possible compromise, "The CIA has agreed to reveal more about its operatives and their activities in Pakistan, and pledged expanded cooperation on drone strikes", while US officials insist that this will have no significant effect on operations, "There was no plan to suspend or restrict the CIA’s drone campaign, and that the agency has not been asked to pull any of its employees out of Pakistan."

At least one "senior Pakistani official" is still playing tough, however. He said the drone campaign “is frozen for the moment” until the two sides agree on new rules to reduce the number of missile strikes. He added the allegation that most of those killed over the past year have been “just foot soldiers", accusing the CIA of inflating the importance of targets to justify the strikes.