Pakistan may free doctor who helped CIA track Osama Bin Laden

Official position on Dr Shakil Afridi appears to have softened as Pakistan’s spy chief visits US Pakistan moved closer to releasing an imprisoned doctor who had helped the CIA track Osama bin Laden after the country’s spy chief flew to the US to try to rescue intelligence ties between Washington and Islamabad. The official position towards Dr Shakil Afridi, the subject of weeks of high-level negotiations between the countries, seemed to have softened as a senior Pakistani official said that he may not have known he was working for the CIA. “If it is confirmed that he [Afridi] did not deal with Americans and didn’t know he was working for the CIA, he didn’t break any laws,” the official said. “He also did not spy on Pakistan or violate the official secrets act. So there may be no reason to charge him … if he was misled and did not know he was working indirectly for a foreign intelligence service.” The Guardian revealed this week that Afridi had been recruited by the CIA to try to obtain a DNA sample from the house in Abbottabad, northern Pakistan, where it was suspected that Bin Laden lived. Washington fears for the safety of Afridi, who has been in the custody of Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence spy agency since late May, and may have been tortured. Afridi has become a pawn in the highly charged renegotiation of the US-Pakistan military and intelligence relationship that has followed the Bin Laden raid. The visit of Lieutenant General Ahmad Shuja Pasha, head of the ISI, to Washington on Wednesday gave both sides the chance to discuss Afridi, US and Pakistani officials said. Pasha’s visit was to discuss future intelligence ties in general. The ISI is furious that the CIA secretly recruited Pakistani citizens to spy on the al-Qaida leader’s house in Abbottabad. Afridi appears to be the Pakistani most involved and is thought to be the only one still held by Pakistan for his role. Washington, for its part, has demanded an explanation of how Bin Laden was able to live comfortably in Abbottabad for five years, amid suspicions elements within the ISI or military had harboured him. Information sharing is said to have almost ceased after the Bin Laden operation on 2 May. Pasha will meet the acting CIA director, Mike Morrell, and other senior security officials to hammer out what CIA activities the ISI will allow in Pakistan. Afridi has given the Pakistani side another bargaining chip. Washington wants the ISI to agree to joint intelligence operations against suspected militants in Pakistan. Top of the American hit list is Bin Laden’s successor as al-Qaida chief, Ayman al-Zawahiri, who is believed to be hiding in Pakistan’s tribal area. Washington will also press more visas for CIA personnel to enter Pakistan. Pasha’s trip was being seen as a sign of a slight thaw in the bitterly entrenched positions of both sides. “Pasha will offer co-operation in certain areas but not all,” said Hasan Askari Rizvi, an analyst based in Lahore. “The ISI will be resistant to independent CIA operations in Pakistan.” Afridi set up a fake vaccination programme for the CIA in Abbottabad, in order to provide an excuse for a nurse to enter the Bin Laden compound, with the idea of extracting DNA in a syringe from a blood family member. The US authorities were trying to confirm the al-Qaida leader lived in the house. It may be Afridi was easy prey for the CIA. It emerged that in the past he was suspended from his job on corruption charges, as the government doctor in charge of Khyber, part of the tribal area, though he was later cleared. Around 2009, locals said, Afridi clashed with a warlord called Mangal Bagh, who runs a Taliban-style militia in Khyber, which is a thinly disguised racket for smuggling. Afridi had treated one of Bagh’s gunmen but the surgery did not turn out well. As punishment, Bagh imposed a fine of £7,500 on Afridi, probably more than a year’s salary for the doctor. Friends claimed that Afridi met some US embassy personnel at a function in Islamabad, late last year or early this year, and then made a trip to the United States. It is not known if he was recruited for the CIA in this way. Pakistan United States Osama bin Laden al-Qaida Global terrorism Saeed Shah guardian.co.uk

Posted by on July 13, 2011. Filed under News, Politics, World News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.