WASHINGTON, Aug 3 (Reuters) - U.S. and Pakistani spy chiefs
exchanged grievances in their first official meeting this week,
sources familiar with the discussions said on Friday, but it was
unclear if the two uneasy allies made any progress to end deep
divisions on militants living in Pakistani tribal areas or on
U.S. drone strikes.
Lieutenant-General Zaheer ul-Islam, who was named in March
to head the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), on his first
official visit to Washington met on Thursday with CIA Director
David Petraeus at CIA headquarters.
Ahead of his visit, Pakistani officials said the country's
spy chief would call for an end to U.S. military drone strikes
in volatile areas bordering Afghanistan and push for a sharing
of technology and intelligence.
The public preview of Pakistani demands on Petraeus appeared
to have displeased U.S. officials, who pushed back at the
notion they might cede to Pakistani requests.
The United States and Pakistan are seeking to repair
relations that have suffered over the past 20 months, in part
because of the unilateral U.S. raid that killed al Qaeda leader
Osama bin Laden in Pakistan in May, 2011, and a U.S. air attack
that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers in November.
The two countries reached a breakthrough last month with a
deal that reopened ground supply routes that NATO nations use to
supply troops in neighboring Afghanistan, which had been closed
since the November air attack along the Afghan border.
The Obama administration is deeply suspicious of Pakistan,
which it believes harbors militants, while Pakistan accuses
Washington of disregarding its own human toll from militancy and
says drone strikes violate its sovereignty.
While sources familiar with the discussions said the two spy
chiefs aired mutual grievances, they did not appear to have made
big strides on the main issues.
MIRROR-IMAGE REQUESTS
Other sources familiar with the talks this week said that
Pakistani officials asked the United States to go after militant
sanctuaries in Afghanistan that were used to launch attacks
across the border in Pakistan - a mirror image of long-standing
American requests - along with an end to drone strikes and help
hunting down remnants of al Qaeda.
Washington has prodded Islamabad to go after militants who
launch cross-border attacks from Pakistan's tribal areas on U.S.
troops in Afghanistan before returning to their safe havens.
Pakistan's parliament has demanded an end to the drone
strikes, but the sources in Washington indicated that U.S.
officials did not yield to those demands.
"The discussions today between General Zahir and Director
Petraeus were substantive, professional, and productive," a U.S.
official said on condition of anonymity.
"Both leaders reaffirmed their commitment to work together
to counter the terrorist presence in the region that threatens
both U.S. and Pakistani national security."
Ahead of Thursday's meeting, U.S. officials signaled there
would be little, if any, change in U.S. counter-terrorism
activity in Pakistan and the region.
The Obama administration is pressuring Pakistan to take
action in particular against the Haqqani network, a militant
group allied with the Taliban that is blamed for some of the
boldest attacks against Western and Afghan government targets in
Afghanistan.
Pakistan responds that it is doing all it can against
militants, but notes that extremists attack its own civilians
and soldiers.