CIA Director Leon Panetta met over dinner Friday with ISI chief and army head for talks on how to repair ties between the two countries that were fractured by the American raid that killed Osama bin Laden, a Pakistani and an American official said. Panetta's visit was his first to Pakistan since the unilateral American operation on May 2 killed the al Qaida leader in Abbotabad.
American officials have said they want to rebuild a relationship vital to their fight against al Qaida and their efforts to wind down the war in Afghanistan, but progress has been slow amid suspicions by some in Washington that elements within the security establishment here were sheltering bin Laden. Panetta dined with army chief General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani and the head of the ISI, Lieutenant General Ahmed Shuja Pasha, after arriving Friday, said the officials, who did not give their names to discuss the high-level meeting.
The men discussed ways to repair the relationship, including the setting up of a joint intelligence team to track down at least five other high-value militant targets inside Pakistan. The officials said that effort was going slowly. It was not clear how long the men would stay. Their visit to Islamabad coincides with a trip by Afghan President Hamid Karzai that is likely to discuss the role Islamabad can play in negotiations with the Taliban to end the war in Afghanistan.
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