WASHINGTON: A summit of spymasters this week eased tensions but failed to resolve issues over US drones and espionage that have imperiled the vital relationship between the CIA and Pakistan's main intelligence agency. The United States and Pakistan have an uneasy alliance as US soldiers fight the Taliban in neighboring Afghanistan and the fragile government in Islamabad faces internal threats from militants and anti-American sentiment. The case of a CIA contractor who killed two Pakistanis sent anger boiling and threatened the CIA's campaign of aerial drone strikes against militants hiding in Pakistan's tribal areas. The US spy agency is willing to expand consultations with Pakistan over drone operations, US officials told Reuters after CIA Director Leon Panetta hosted Lieutenant General Ahmed Shuja Pasha, chief of the Inter-Services Intelligence agency. But demands by some Pakistani officials for sharp cuts in drone attacks are unacceptable, the officials said, as are suggestions the United States should return to a Bush-era policy limiting the strikes to “high-value” militant targets. “Panetta has an obligation to protect the American people and he isn't going to call an end to any operations that support that objective,” one US official said. Despite public protestations by Islamabad about the drone strikes, Pakistan hopes the United States will move ahead with long-stalled plans to supply a fleet of the remotely piloted aircraft, according to a source familiar with its wish-list. US officials also worry that Islamabad has been slowing routine rotations of American personnel, including spies, diplomats and military trainers, which could become a serious drag on routine and secret US activities in the region. The issue of US personnel levels in Pakistan — a Muslim nation with nuclear arms and a history of conflict with India — was discussed during Pasha's visit, one US official said. The meeting between Panetta and Pasha was a relatively brief but the CIA said it was productive. “We have a strong relationship with our Pakistani counterparts and we work through concerns when they arise,” CIA spokesman George Little said. “That's the nature of a solid partnership.”
