U.S.-Pakistani intel ties too big to fail

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, April 12 (UPI) -- Despite a dust-up over U.S. intelligence operations in Pakistan, former Pakistani generals said bilateral security concerns are too severe to ignore.

Islamabad is calling for a dramatic cutback in the number of U.S intelligence officers working in the country and an end to drone attacks targeting suspected militants in the tribal regions, The New York Times reports.

The intelligence fallout follows a dust-up over Raymond Davis, an alleged CIA officer accused of fatally shooting two Pakistani men in January.

Davis was released and left the country in March after paying diyya -- blood money -- to the relatives of the victims who pardoned him in a Pakistani court. Public prosecutors said Davis paid the families of the dead men a total of $2.3 million.

Former Pakistani Gen. Talat Masood, now working as a defense analyst, told Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty that the Davis case highlighted ongoing frustration between the two allies' work on counter-terrorism issues.

Masood said Islamabad was "very relaxed" when it came to U.S. intelligence work in Pakistan, which he said led to the Davis incident in January.

"And (the Pakistanis) want to prevent that from happening (again). And also it was undermining the entire sovereignty," he said. "So the Inter-Services Intelligence wants them to shrink their network to a reasonable level where they can still get certain information, which is necessary as an ally."

But former Brig. Gen. Asad Munir told the news agency that bilateral terrorism concerns trumped any fallout from the Davis case.

"Both sides cannot afford to sever their relations or put a block in the intelligence sharing," he said. "I think it is going to be sorted out."