Pakistan seeks formal agreement with CIA

Published on 04/07/2011 15:01

PAKISTAN'S intelligence agency has asked the CIA to sign a written contract which will govern co-operation between the two countries and rule out unauthorised missions.

American special forces killed Osama bin Laden in the town of Abbottabad in May, prompting a freeze in relations.

A senior security official said Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agency wanted a formal agreement on paper - ruling out future attacks on Pakistani soil, for example - in order to restart the relationship.

"Rather than word of mouth or a handshake, we have got to have things written down," he said. "We need to formalise things, saying this is what we will do and this is what you will do."

The awkward alliance is key to tracking down al-Qaeda and Taleban groups in Pakistan's tribal regions, from where they launch raids on international forces in Afghanistan.

That alliance will become even more critical as the US withdraws troops - 33,000 by the end of next summer - before a complete handover to Afghan security forces due in 2014.

Anger in Pakistan first boiled over in January when a CIA agent, Raymond Davis, was arrested for shooting dead two men. Pakistani officials were outraged at what they said was a covert agent operating without permission from Islamabad.

He was eventually released after blood money was paid to the families of his two victims, averting a deeper crisis.

The new contract would also call into question the CIA's secret drones programme, which is hugely controversial in Pakistan where they are blamed for killing hundreds of civilians and infringing the country's sovereignty.