ISI chief Lt Gen Ahmed Shuja Pasha discussed the situation in Pakistan and Afghanistan with top security officials in the US and apprised them of Pakistan's views about the new American strategy for the region. Pasha,currently on a visit to the US,met CIA Director Leon Panetta,President Barack Obama's National Security Adviser Gen James L Jones and National Intelligence chief Dennis Blair,diplomatic sources were quoted as saying by 'Dawn' newspaper today. "They discussed the current security situation in the Pak-Afghan region. Gen Pasha informed his US counterparts how Pakistan views the new policy debate in Washington," said a diplomatic source. Last week,Gen Stanley McChrystal,the top US and NATO commander in Afghanistan,submitted a report to the White House warning that the US risks losing the Afghan war if it does not send more troops to that country. The report sparked a debate in the US and Obama met his senior security advisers,including Vice President Joe Biden and Jones,on Tuesday to discuss the report. American media reported that Biden opposed sending more troops and instead urged increasing targeted attacks on suspected terrorist hideouts. A US journalist,who interviewed Pasha last week,reported that ISI too opposed a troop surge in Afghanistan and was appealing to the US to work with Afghan President Hamid Karzai despite his "imperfections." The ISI fears a US military surge in Afghanistan will be counter-productive. The ISI also believes that a US pullout will endanger Pakistan. According to the report,the ISI is keenly debating the new US strategy for Afghanistan proposed by McChrystal. The ISI leadership thinks the US cannot afford to lose in Afghanistan and it fears that a security vacuum there will endanger Pakistan. ISI officials believe the US should be realistic about its war objectives,Dawn reported. If victory is defined as obliteration of the Taliban,the US will never win,the report said. But the US can achieve the more limited aim of rough political stability if it is patient,it added.
