CIA activities in Pakistan

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Main article: CIA activities in the Near East, North Africa, South and Southwest Asia

Contents

[edit] Pakistan 1965

See Vietnam 1965: General Non-Communist Reactions for the US assessment of Pakistan's reaction to an escalation in Vietnam.

[edit] Pakistan 1979

Ramsey Clark, former US Attorney General and political critic, has accused the CIA of having played a key role in engineering the regime change fromAli Bhutto to Zia ul Haq.[1]. While Clark accuses the CIA of engineering Bhutto's execution, Zia ul Haq was quoted in 1979, by the New York Times, as saying that if the judgment went against the former Prime Minister he would "hang the blighter."[2]

The CIA is suspected to have installed General Zia ul Haq as President.[citation needed] Zia ul Haq promoted an Islamization of Pakistan, which the CIA saw as essential to suppressing Pakistani Communists.[citation needed] Zia ul Haq allowed the CIA to use bases in Pakistan to send CIA paramilitary agents into Afghanistan to aid the Mujahadeen. Pakistan was the major conduit of arms and supplies from the CIA to the Mujahadeen.[3]

When Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq came to power, he Islamicized the country, making it likely that Communists would be destroyed(Andrew and Mitrokhin,2005).

 This article needs additional citations for verification.
Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (January 2008)

Bhutto had also refused to allow the CIA to use Pakistan as a conduit for arms and supplies to the mujahadeen in Afghanistan. On the other hand, Muhammed Zia-ul-Haq supported the CIA and allowed the use of the maximum amount of Pakistani resources to support the Mujahadeen. Zia-ul-Haq gave the suggestion to give Stinger missiles to the mujahadeen.[citation needed]

On December 25, 1979 the U.S.S.R. forces invaded Afghanistan. The Islamist General Zia, however, was ideologically opposed to Communism taking over a neighboring country, and made no secret about his intentions of monetarily and militarily aiding the Afghan resistance, or Mujahideen. He received both overt and covert US funding.[citation needed]

[edit] Pakistan 2001

Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), the "intelligence service of Pakistan... has had an indirect but longstanding relationship with Al Qaeda, turning a blind eye for years to the growing ties between Osama bin Laden and the Taliban, according to American officials...[ISI] Al Qaeda camps in Afghanistan to train covert operatives for use in a war of terror against India...[and] also maintained direct links to guerrillas fighting in the disputed territory of Kashmir on Pakistan's border with India, the officials said.

"The Kashmiri fighters, labeled a terrorist group by the State Department, are part of Pakistan's continuing efforts to put pressure on India in the Kashmir conflict." The ISI-Kashmiri relationship surfaced in August 1998, when the United States launched a cruise missile attack against Al Qaeda terrorist camps near Khost, Afghanistan, in response to the 1998 embassy and civilian bombings in Kenya and Tanzania. The casualties included several members of a Kashmiri militant group supported by Pakistan who were believed to be training in the Qaeda camps..."[4]

[edit] Pakistan 2002

"Abu Zubaydah, the first of Osama bin Laden's henchmen captured by the United States after the" September 11, 2001 attacks, was wounded and feverish from the gunfight in which he had been captured in Pakistan in early spring 2002. when a CIA security team delivered him to a secret safe house in Thailand for interrogation in the early spring of 2002.

Within days, he "was being subjected to coercive interrogation techniques - he was stripped, held in an icy room and jarred by earsplitting loud music. This was the genesis of practices later adopted by some within the military, and widely used by the CIA in handling prominent terrorism suspects at a series of secret overseas prisons.

"Soon after his capture, Zubaydah nearly died of his infected wounds. At one point, he was covertly rushed to a hospital after CIA medical officers warned that he might not survive if he did not receive more extensive medical treatment. According to accounts from five former and current government officials who were briefed on the case, FBI agents - accompanied by intelligence officers - initially questioned him using standard interview techniques. They bathed Zubaydah, changed his bandages, gave him water, urged improved medical care and spoke with him in Arabic and English, languages in which he is fluent.

"To convince him that they knew details of his activities, the agents brought a box of blank audiotapes that they said contained recordings of his phone conversations. As the FBI worked with CIA officers who were present, Zubaydah soon began to provide intelligence insights into Al Qaeda... FBI agents on the scene angrily protested the more aggressive approach, arguing that persuasion rather than coercion had succeeded. But the leaders of the CIA team were convinced that tougher tactics were warranted and said that the methods had been legally approved and authorized.[5]

[edit] Pakistan 2005

On May 15, 2005, it was reported that Predator drones had been used to assassinate Al-Qaeda figure Haitham al-Yemeni inside Pakistan.[6]

[edit] Pakistan 2006

On January 13, 2006, the CIA launched an airstrike on Damadola, a Pakistani village near the Afghan border, where they believed Ayman al-Zawahiri was located. The airstrike killed a number of civilians but al-Zawahiri apparently was not among them.[7] The Pakistani government issued a strong protest against the US attack, considered a violation of Pakistan's sovereignty. However, several legal experts argue that this cannot be considered an assassination attempt as al-Zawahiri is named as terrorist and an enemy combatant by the United States, and therefore this targeted killing is not covered under Executive Order 12333, which banned assassinations.[8][9][10][11][12]

[edit] Pakistan 2007

A new NIE focused on three years, The Terrorist Threat to the US Homeland, says "Al Qaeda has reorganized to pre-9/11 strength and is preparing for a major US strike has sparked debate among government officials and observers about the Bush administration's foreign policy and counterterrorism efforts." It "indicates that the Islamic terrorist organization's rise has been bolstered by the Iraq war and the failure to counter extremism in Pakistan's tribal areas.

"... Hezbollah may become a threat if the US takes action against Iran or seriously threatens or attacks the Islamic organization, the majority of the report focused on the "rejuvenating effect the Iraq war has had on Al Qaeda.

"Al Qaeda is preparing for a major strike against the US, reports the National Intelligence Estimate (NIE). The terrorist organization has intensified efforts to insert operatives in the US, however, since the 9/11 attacks only a "handful" of senior operatives have been discovered inside the US. The NIE also indicates that Al Qaeda will deploy nuclear, chemical, or biological weapons if they can acquire them."

"We assess that al-Qai'da's homeland plotting is likely to continue to focus on prominent political, economic, and infrastructure targets with the goal of producing mass casualties, visually dramatic destruction, significant economic aftershocks, and/or fear among the U.S. population. The group is proficient with conventional small arms and improvised explosive devices, and is innovative in creating new capabilities and overcoming security obstacles.
"We assess that al-Qai'da will continue to try to acquire and employ chemical, biological, radiological, or nuclear material in attacks and would not hesitate to use them if it develops what it deems is sufficient capability.[13]

[edit] References

  1. ^ Salim, Irsham, CIA Sent Bhutto to the Gallows, <http://www.despardes.com/oscartango/120505-ramsey-bhutto.html> 
  2. ^ Hevesi8, Dennis (18 August 1988), “Mohammad Zia ul-Haq: Unbending Commander for Era of Atom and Islam”, New York Times, <http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=940DE2D71239F93BA2575BC0A96E948260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=2> 
  3. ^ Dreyfuss, Robert. (2006). Devils Game: How the United States Unleashed Fundamentalist Islam.. Owl Press. 
  4. ^ “Pakistani Intelligence Had Links to Al Qaeda, U.S. Officials Say”, New York Times, October 29, 2001, <http://tiger.berkeley.edu/sohrab/politics/isi_problems.html> 
  5. ^ Johnston, David (12 September 2006), “Rift between FBI and CIA over interrogations is unhealed”, International Herald Tribune, <http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/09/10/news/henchman.php> 
  6. ^ Priest, Dana (May 15 2005). "Surveillance Operation in Pakistan Located and Killed Al Qaeda Official". Washington Post: A25. 
  7. ^ Linzer, Dafna; Griff Witte (January 14 2006). "U.S. Airstrike Targets Al Qaeda's Zawahiri": A09. 
  8. ^ Hess, Pamela (November 8 2006). "Experts: Yemen strike not assassination". UPI. 
  9. ^ Elizabeth B. Bazan (January 4, 2002). Assassination Ban and E.O. 12333:A Brief Summary (HTML). Congressional Research Service. Retrieved on April 26, 2006.
  10. ^ Tom O'Connor, Mark Stevens (November 2005). The Handling of Illegal Enemy Combatants (HTML). Retrieved on April 26, 2006.
  11. ^ Memorandum on Executive Order 12333 and Assassination (PDF). Retrieved on April 26, 2006.
  12. ^ Jeffrey Addicott (November 7, 2002). The Yemen Attack: Illegal Assassination or Lawful Killing. Retrieved on April 26, 2006.
  13. ^ Peter, Tom A. (July 19, 2007), “National Intelligence Estimate: Al Qaeda stronger and a threat to US homeland;Report points to war in Iraq and Pakistan's tribal areas as allowing Al Qaeda to regroup.”, Christian Science Monitor, <http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0718/p99s01-duts.html> 
v • d • e
Flag of the United States CIA activities in the Near East, North Africa, South and Southwest Asia
Algeria · Libya · Morocco · Tunisia · Iran · Iraq · Turkey · Yemen · Israel · Jordan · Syria · Afghanistan · India · Pakistan · Sri Lanka · Burma
v • d • e
Flag of the United States Central Intelligence Agency (USA)