ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, March 21 (UPI) -- U.S. CIA Director Leon Panetta arrived in Pakistan Saturday to meet with top leaders in Islamabad, officials said.
Panetta was set to meet with Pakistani Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani, President Asif Ali Zardari and Interior Ministry chief Rehman Malik, CNN reported.
The meeting was unannounced. The Wall Street Journal reported this week that Panetta was making the visit in an attempt to guide the Obama administration's Pakistan policy amid political turmoil there.
Unnamed sources told the Journal the United States is worried about Zardari's prospects as president after opposition protests left him weakened, and may be looking nervously to the country's future leadership should he fall.
Zardari has quietly supported the CIA's use of drone aircraft to fire missiles at terrorist groups using Pakistan's lawless tribal regions as a base to attack U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan. But it isn't clear whether the new political power centers would be as cooperative, the Journal said.
