ISLAMABAD (Pakistan) - PAKISTAN'S ISI spy agency is ready to split with the CIA because of its frustration over what it calls heavy-handed pressure and its anger over what it believes is a covert US operation involving hundreds of contract spies, according to an internal document obtained by The Associated Press and interviews with US and Pakistani officials.
Such a move could seriously damage the US war effort in Afghanistan, limit a program targeting Al-Qaeda insurgents along the Pakistan frontier, and restrict Washington's access to information in the nuclear-armed country.
According to a statement drafted by the ISI, supported by interviews with officials, an already-fragile relationship between the two agencies collapsed following the shooting death of two Pakistanis by Raymond Davis, a US contracted spy who is in jail in Pakistan facing possible multiple murder charges.
'Post-incident conduct of the CIA has virtually put the partnership into question,' said a media statement prepared by the ISI but never released. A copy was obtained this week by the AP.
The statement accused the CIA of using pressure tactics to free Davis.
'It is hard to predict if the relationship will ever reach the level at which it was prior to the Davis episode,' the statement said. 'The onus of not stalling this relationship between the two agencies now squarely lies on the CIA.' -- AP
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