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One-third of CIA budget goes to ISI | Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) collected tens of millions of dollars through a classified CIA programme that pays for the capture or killing of wanted militants, since the 9/11 attacks, accounting for as much
as one-third of US spy agency's annual budget, according to a leading US daily.
The Los Angeles Times quoted officials as saying that the payments have triggered
intense debate within the US Government, because of "long-standing suspicions
that the ISI continues to help Taliban who undermine American efforts in Afghanistan
and provide sanctuary to Al Qaeda members in Pakistan ." But US officials have
continued the funding because the ISI's assistance is considered crucial: "Almost
every major terrorist plot this decade has originated in Pakistan 's tribal belt,
where ISI informant networks are a primary source of intelligence," the paper
reports. The White House National Security Council has "this debate every year,"
said a former high-ranking US intelligence official involved in the discussions.
Despite deep misgivings about the ISI, the official said "there was no other game
in town". The payments to Pakistan are authorised under a covert programme initially
approved by former president George Bush and continued under President Barack
Obama. "The CIA payments are a hidden stream in a much broader financial flow...
the US has given Pakistan more than 15 billion dollars over the last eight years
in military and civilian aid," said the Los Angeles Times. "The ISI has used the
covert CIA money for a variety of purposes, including the construction of a new
headquarters in Islamabad... that project pleased CIA officials because it replaced
a structure considered vulnerable to attack: it also eased fears that the US money
would end up in the private bank accounts of ISI officials," it said. Given the
size of overt military and civilian aid to Pakistan , CIA officials argue that
their own disbursements - particularly the bounties for suspected terrorists -
should be considered a bargain, the Daily Times reports. "They gave us 600 to
700 people captured or dead," said one former senior CIA official, who worked
with the Pakistanis. "Getting these guys off the street was a good thing, and
it was a big savings to [US] taxpayers." |
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