Pakistan Informant Arrest Reports Fuel US Concerns

Sen. Graham Warns Relations Nearing 'Breaking Point'

Officials within the Obama Administration as well as a number of Congressmen are up in arms over reports that the Pakistani Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agency has arrested a number of “informants” for providing the CIA with information that led to the unilateral raid in early May that killed Osama bin Laden.

Pakistani officials denied the reports initially, but other reports suggest the move was an effort to curb unilateral US raids on Pakistani soil by cutting off their intelligence gathering ability. The move led to yet more calls to revoke all aid to the Pakistani government.

But the White House, while confirming “challenges” in the relationship (which is putting it extremely mildly) insisted that the aid needed to continue because of the importance of “security cooperation” with the nation.

Yet unilateral US raids and retaliatory arrests don’t speak to that sort of cooperation existing at any rate, and Sen. Lindsey Graham (R – SC) warned today that not only are relations nearing a “breaking point,” but that he believes “we’re on a collision course with Pakistan.”

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.