Pakistan and America Disagree over Intelligence Security

If Pakistan and its journalists were as efficient in finding and sharing information about Al-Qaida and the presence of Osama bin Laden in their country as they are in releasing the names of CIA operatives in Pakistan perhaps there would have been no need for a secret CIA-led mission into Pakistan territory to eliminate bin Laden last week.

Late last year, the name of the CIA Islamabad station chief was released in court papers. This led to the USA’s withdrawal of the man because of fears over his safety. At the time, the United States blamed the Pakistan Inter-Services Intelligence, ISI, for leaking the name.

This weekend, the name (wrong but similar to the real name) of the new Islamabad CIA station chief was revealed in Islamabad media. This is seen as a sign of the worsening relations between Pakistan and America.

Last week, Leon Panetta, the CIA chief, said that Pakistan was not informed about the bin Laden raid because of fears that the information would be leaked in time to warn bin Laden. The ISI has vociferously denied any such complicity with Al-Qaida or bin Laden ever since the CIA raid in Abbottabad.

I repeat - if Pakistan were as efficient in tracking down Al-Qaida and bin Laden as it is in revealing CIA station chiefs’ names, we would be a lot further along in eliminating Al-Qaida from Pakistan.