Pakistan wants up to 40% reduction of US military presence

Upset by the public outcry over which the US special forces can conduct a military raid in a sovereign state such as Pakistan without the knowledge of local officials, army chief General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani ordered Thursday that Islamabad wants to immediately slash down between 25 and 40 percent Washington's military forces in the country.

He also warned of a bilateral review of military activities if another similar attack that killed Al Qaeda chief will happen again in the future.

Kayani gave directives yesterday a probe that will determine the failure of intelligence services with regard the hideout of the slain terrorist leader Osama Bin Laden in Abbottabad, 50 kilometers (31 miles) northeast of the capital, according to Dawn.com.

During the Corps Commanders' Conference held in Rawalpindi yesterday, the embarrassed army head wanted to investigate how the American special forces were able to unilaterally carry out its "Operation Geronimo" that killed on a 2 May pre-dawn raid the Al Qaeda chief with $25-million tag on his head and a number of family members and an aide without the military having knowledge of it.

After the conference, a military spokesman said without further elaboration, "An investigation has been ordered into the circumstances that led to this situation."

The people in Pakistan questioned how come the military missed the fact that the slain terrorist had been living close to the Military Academy Kakul for several years.

The general public was alarmed with which the US Navy Seal can conduct the attack in a free country—a blatant insult to their sovereignty—that led them to ask how the big military budgets are used and their ability to protect the people.

In the aftermath of the conference, the military admitted their failures and reassured to improve the security and resolve the issues to defend Pakistan's independence.

In a statement, the military said, "As regards the possibility of similar hostile action against our strategic assets, the forum reaffirmed that unlike an undefended civilian compound, our strategic assets are well protected and an elaborate defensive mechanism is in place.

They partly blamed the CIA for the dysfunctional intelligence sharing.

Warning the US of similar attacks in the future, Kayani said, "In the case of Osama Bin Laden, while the CIA developed intelligence based on initial information provided by the ISI, it did not share further development of intelligence on the case with ISI, contrary to the existing practice between the two services.

"The COAS made it very clear that any similar action, violating the sovereignty of Pakistan, will warrant a review on the level of military/intelligence cooperation with the US."


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Details of this report here.