Westhawk – Burning the bridge to Pakistan

Either way, this recent series of leaks about the anger U.S. operators feel toward the ISI, first to the Los Angeles Times, and now to the New York Times, threatens to burn the bridge of cooperation (such as it is) between CIA and the ISI, and between the Pentagon and the Pakistani army.

Once the leakers have convinced reasonable observers that the ISI, and perhaps the broader Pakistani security establishment, is effectively in league with the Taliban and al Qaeda, the U.S. side will no longer be able to carry on as before. It would be untenable for a U.S. president to speak the same soothing platitudes about the “strong alliance” between the U.S. and Pakistan if it is common knowledge, revealed by high-level U.S. intelligence officials, that the Pakistani government, or at least very important parts of it, is working for the enemy.