U.S., Pakistan chiefs of intelligence meet

[maddezmom]

Source: WaPo

By Karin Brulliard and Karen DeYoung
Washington Post Staff Writers
Thursday, September 30, 2010

KABUL - CIA Director Leon Panetta met in Islamabad with Pakistan's intelligence chief Wednesday amid a month-long escalation in U.S. air attacks against insurgent strongholds and new reports of Pakistan-based terror plots against the West.

The attacks have added to political tension in Pakistan, where the fragile civilian government is staggering under domestic criticism of its response to floods that have left millions homeless and threats by the Supreme Court to reopen corruption cases against high-level officials.

U.S. and Pakistani officials dismissed speculation that the military, which has ruled Pakistan for much of its 63-year history, is contemplating a takeover. "We don't have the appetite, the resources or the intent to meddle in politics," a Pakistani military official said. "In our past experience, it hasn't worked. It only worsens the situation further."

But Gen. Ashfaq Kiyani, the chief of staff of the Pakistani army, bluntly stated military concerns during a meeting Monday with President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gillani, according to several military officials. Kiyani "conveyed a plain message to the civilian leadership in their recent meeting that it must put its house in order," a senior Pakistani security official said, and he forcefully demanded that the government crack down on corruption, take control of the plummeting economy and improve its faltering response to the flood disaster.



Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/09/29/AR2010092907108.html