ISI chief Shuja Pasha heads to US for talks
ISLAMABAD: The chief of Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), Lt-Gen Ahmed Shuja Pasha, flew to Washington on Wednesday for talks as relations between the two allies in the war on Al Qaeda hit fresh lows over US aid cuts. During his one-day visit, the director general of ISI will hold talks with senior US officials. βHe is going there to discuss the intelligence coordination,β army spokesman Major General Athar Abbas told AFP. The United States has decided to withhold a third of its annual $2.7 billion security assistance to Islamabad after Pakistan ordered dozens of military trainers to leave following a US raid that killed Osama bin Laden. The cuts of $800 million reportedly include about $300 million used to reimburse Pakistan for costs of deploying more than 100,000 soldiers along the Afghan border, a hotbed of Taliban and Al Qaeda-linked militants.