ISI chief to discuss drones in US

Pakistans spymaster will next week visit the United States to resume talks on intelligence cooperation and drone strikes, an official said Wednesday.It is the first time in a year the head of the militarys ISI intelligence agency flies to Washington, signalling a thaw in relations beset by crisis since US troops found and killed Osama bin Laden in Pakistan in May 2011.Lieutenant General Zaheer ul-Islam, who was appointed in March, will hold talks with CIA director David Petraeus on counter-terror cooperation and intelligence sharing, a senior Pakistani security official told AFP.But the differences and intractability on both sides highlight the tensions of the fractured anti-terror alliance, despite Islamabads decision to end a seven-month blockade on NATO supplies for Afghanistan.The United States is understood to be keen for a return of US military personnel to assist Pakistani officers in the northwest, where Washington says Taliban havens are exacerbating the war in neighbouring Afghanistan.It is not true, said the official, when asked if Pakistan may allow such a return.Islamabads desire is an end to US attacks against the Taliban and Al-Qaeda, and the means for Islamabad to carry out the attacks instead.But on that, the battle lines have been drawn and there is little indication of concessions, given the level of distrust between Islamabad and Washington.The general has been authorised to take a firm stand on the drones issue during his talks, the official told AFP.The visit has the full backing of the political and military leadership, he said.We need this precision strike capability to avoid collateral damage and its political fall out. The idea is that the US develops the target and tells us, and we destroy it ourselves, the official added.Islamabad has been increasingly vocal in its opposition to the drones, which leaders quietly approved initially, as its alliance with Washington crashed to its lowest ebb in a decade.Pakistan says American raids are a violation of sovereignty and fan anti-US sentiment.But US officials are understood to believe the attacks too important to give up, although the number has declined as relations have nosedived.