**ISI SUPPLIES TARGETS FOR CIA DRONES?

**ISI SUPPLIES TARGETS FOR CIA DRONES?

U.S. covert paramilitary presence in Afghanistan much larger than thought

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/09/22/AR2010092206241.html?hpid=topnews

.... In combination with near-constant surveillance from U.S. drone aircraft in the skies, the informants have enabled the CIA to identify the whereabouts of al-Qaeda and Taliban leaders.

That has led to an exponential increase in missile attacks by the drones. The CIA has carried out 71 drone strikes in Pakistani territory this year, more than double the number for all of 2008, according to statistics compiled by the New America Foundation.

At the same time, the border-hugging bases have reduced the CIA's dependence on Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence directorate, a mercurial spy service that that has helped track down dozens of al-Qaeda and other insurgent leaders, but is also considered a secret supporter of the Afghan Taliban.

For years, the ISI restricted CIA operatives to Pakistani bases in the tribal belt and strictly controlled access to its sources in the region. As a result, the Americans were kept largely in the dark about the presence of al-Qaeda and Taliban forces on that side of the border.

Times Online Confirms 2wesleyhall July Assertion that Pakistan Runs Spies Vs. al-Qaeda

2wesleyhall's July 14 post asserting that Pakistan's Inter Services Intelligence directorate (ISI) is running the spies against al-Qaeda targets in Pakistan's lawless Northwest is definitively confirmed in today's Times Online story - "Former CIA agent's eight years hunting bin Laden in Pakistani badlands."

In July, 2wesleyhall stated, "...the CIA appears to outsource the running of spies in the FATA to Pakistani intelligence... 'operations on the ground' are likely being run by the ISI."

The Times Online article confirms this, stating, "The... search [for al-Qaeda targets, including bin Laden] has essentially been outsourced by the US to a network of Pashtun spies run by the Pakistani intelligence services."

Monday, September 7, 2009

Two Experts Confirm 2Wesleyhall July Assertion that Pakistani Intelligence is the Primay Provider of Targeting Information for CIA Drones in Pakistan

In a July 14, 2009 post, 2wesleyhall asserted that CIA drone attacks against al-Qaeda and the Taliban in Pakistan were primarily being funneled targeting information from Pakistani intelligence.

We wrote then:

"If there are scores of spies in the FATA, and CIA officers are not running them, then who is? That would be Pakistani intelligence, the Inter-Services Intelligence directorate (ISI)."

This assertion is further confirmed recently by two experts. First, in a New York Times story, "Crux of Afghan Debate: Will More Troops Curb Terror?" today Bruce Hoffman, a terrorism expert at Georgetown University, "said the success of strikes from Predators in killing Qaeda suspects in Pakistan depends on a flow of accurate information on terrorists’ whereabouts from the Pakistani intelligence service, which keeps close tabs on militants."