This is a list of activities ostensibly carried out by the U.S.
Central Intelligence Agency
The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA; ) is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States tasked with advancing national security through collecting and analyzing intelligence from around the world and ...
(CIA) within
Pakistan
Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...
. It has been alleged by such authors as
Ahmed Rashid that the CIA and ISI (
Inter-Services Intelligence
The Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) is the premier Pakistani Intelligence community, intelligence agency of Pakistan. It is responsible for gathering, processing, and analyzing any information from around the world that is deemed relevant t ...
; Pakistan's premier
intelligence agency
An intelligence agency is a government agency responsible for the collection, Intelligence analysis, analysis, and exploitation of information in support of law enforcement, national security, military, public safety, and foreign policy obj ...
) have been waging a clandestine war.
The
Afghan
Afghan or Afgan may refer to:
Related to Afghanistan
*Afghans, historically refers to the Pashtun people. It is both an ethnicity and nationality. Ethnicity wise, it refers to the Pashtuns. In modern terms, it means both the citizens of Afghanist ...
Taliban
, leader1_title = Supreme Leader of Afghanistan, Supreme leaders
, leader1_name = {{indented plainlist,
* Mullah Omar{{Natural Causes{{nbsp(1994–2013)
* Akhtar Mansour{{Assassinated (2015–2016)
* Hibatullah Akhundzada (2016–present) ...
—with whom the United States was
officially in conflict—was headquartered in Pakistan's
Federally Administered Tribal Areas
The Federally Administered Tribal Areas, commonly known as FATA, was a semi-autonomous tribal region in north-western Pakistan that existed from 1947 until being merged with the neighbouring province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in 2018 through the ...
during the war and according to some reports is largely funded by the ISI. The
Pakistani government denies this.
2005
On May 15, 2005, it was reported that
Predator
Predation is a biological interaction in which one organism, the predator, kills and eats another organism, its prey. It is one of a family of common List of feeding behaviours, feeding behaviours that includes parasitism and micropredation ...
drones had been used to kill
Al-Qaeda
, image = Flag of Jihad.svg
, caption = Jihadist flag, Flag used by various al-Qaeda factions
, founder = Osama bin Laden{{Assassinated, Killing of Osama bin Laden
, leaders = {{Plainlist,
* Osama bin Lad ...
figure
Haitham al-Yemeni in a
targeted killing
Targeted killing is a form of assassination carried out by governments Extrajudicial killing, outside a judicial procedure or a battlefield.
Since the late 20th century, the legal status of targeted killing has become a subject of contention wit ...
inside
Pakistan
Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...
.
2006
On January 13, 2006, the CIA launched an
airstrike on Damadola, a Pakistani village near the Afghan border, where they believed
Ayman al-Zawahiri
Ayman Mohammed Rabie al-Zawahiri (; 19 June 195131 July 2022) was an Egyptian-born pan-Islamism, pan-Islamist militant and physician who served as the second general emir of al-Qaeda from June 2011 until Killing of Ayman al-Zawahiri, his dea ...
was located. The airstrike killed a number of civilians but al-Zawahiri apparently was not among them.
The Pakistani government issued
strong protestagainst the US attack, considered a violation of Pakistan's sovereignty. However, several legal experts argue that this cannot be considered an assassination attempt as al-Zawahiri is named as terrorist and an
enemy combatant
Enemy combatant is a term for a person who, either lawfully or unlawfully, engages in hostilities for the other side in an armed conflict, used by the U.S. government and media during the War on Terror. Usually enemy combatants are members of t ...
by the United States, and therefore this
targeted killing
Targeted killing is a form of assassination carried out by governments Extrajudicial killing, outside a judicial procedure or a battlefield.
Since the late 20th century, the legal status of targeted killing has become a subject of contention wit ...
is not covered under
Executive Order 12333
Executive Order 12333, signed on December 4, 1981 by U.S. president Ronald Reagan, was an executive order intended to extend powers and responsibilities of U.S. intelligence agencies and direct the leaders of U.S. federal agencies to co-operat ...
, which banned assassinations.
However this still remains a violation of sovereignty of Pakistan according to international law.
2007
A new
National Intelligence Estimate
National Intelligence Estimates (NIEs) are United States federal government documents that are the authoritative assessment of the Director of National Intelligence (DNI) on intelligence related to a particular national security issue. NIEs are pr ...
(NIE) focused on three years, ''The Terrorist Threat to the US Homeland'', says "Al Qaeda has reorganized to pre-9/11 strength and is preparing for a major US strike has sparked debate among government officials and observers about the Bush administration's foreign policy and counterterrorism efforts." It "indicates that the Islamic terrorist organization's rise has been bolstered by the Iraq war and the failure to counter extremism in Pakistan's tribal areas.
2008
Operation Cannonball, a CIA operation, was disclosed in 2008.
Began in 2006, it was intended as part of an effort to capture
Osama bin Laden
Osama bin Laden (10 March 19572 May 2011) was a militant leader who was the founder and first general emir of al-Qaeda. Ideologically a pan-Islamist, Bin Laden participated in the Afghan ''mujahideen'' against the Soviet Union, and support ...
and eliminate
Al-Qaeda
, image = Flag of Jihad.svg
, caption = Jihadist flag, Flag used by various al-Qaeda factions
, founder = Osama bin Laden{{Assassinated, Killing of Osama bin Laden
, leaders = {{Plainlist,
* Osama bin Lad ...
forces in
Pakistan
Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...
.
The operation was reportedly hampered by conflicts between CIA offices, leading to large delays in the deployment of the program.
In July 2008, CIA officials confronted Pakistan officials with evidence of ties between
Inter-Services Intelligence
The Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) is the premier Pakistani Intelligence community, intelligence agency of Pakistan. It is responsible for gathering, processing, and analyzing any information from around the world that is deemed relevant t ...
and
Jalaluddin Haqqani
Jalaluddin Haqqani () (1939 – 3 September 2018) was an Afghan insurgent commander who founded the Haqqani network, an insurgent group who fought in guerilla warfare against US-led NATO forces and the former Islamic Republic of Afghanistan g ...
. ISI denies this report.
2010 CIA station chief removal in Pakistan
On December 16, 2010, the CIA evacuated its
station chief, later named as Jonathan Bank, from Pakistan after his cover was blown in legal action brought by relatives of a person killed in a 31 December 2009
drone attack, for which the station chief was accused of being responsible.
The CIA, in a rare move, recalled the station chief, citing "security concerns" and concerns about his safety.
Neither the CIA nor the US government officially recognise station chiefs, but they are acknowledged to exist by intelligence organizations.
In April 2015, the
Islamabad High Court
The Islamabad High Court (IHC) is the senior court of the Islamabad Capital Territory, Pakistan, with appellate jurisdiction over the following District courts of Pakistan, district courts:
* Islamabad District Court (East)
* Islamabad Distr ...
ordered police to open a criminal case against Bank for murder, conspiracy, terrorism and waging war against Pakistan.
Fake hepatitis vaccination campaign
Towards the end of the
manhunt for Osama bin Laden
Osama bin Laden, the founder and former leader of Al-Qaeda, went into hiding following the start of the War in Afghanistan in order to avoid capture by the United States for his role in the September 11 attacks, and having been on the FBI Ten ...
and leading up to his eventual death in 2011, the CIA ran a covert operation utilizing a fake
hepatitis
Hepatitis is inflammation of the liver parenchyma, liver tissue. Some people or animals with hepatitis have no symptoms, whereas others develop yellow discoloration of the skin and whites of the eyes (jaundice), Anorexia (symptom), poor appetite ...
vaccine program in Pakistan to illicitly collect blood samples to confirm the presence of bin Laden or his family.
The program was ultimately unsuccessful, and lead to a rise in
vaccine hesitancy
Vaccine hesitancy is a delay in acceptance, or refusal of vaccines despite availability and supporting evidence. The term covers refusals to vaccinate, delaying vaccines, accepting vaccines but remaining uncertain about their use, or using ce ...
and eventual re-emergence of
polio
Poliomyelitis ( ), commonly shortened to polio, is an infectious disease caused by the poliovirus. Approximately 75% of cases are asymptomatic; mild symptoms which can occur include sore throat and fever; in a proportion of cases more severe ...
in Pakistan.
2011
In January 2011 CIA contractor Raymond Allen Davis fatally shot dead two young men on the streets of Lahore, Punjab after on claims that he was defending himself. His status as a CIA contractor was discovered after he was arrested by Punjab police and charged with 2 counts of murder and the possession of illegal firearms. In the same situation another USA team of four people riding an SUV crushed a motor cyclist and killed him before running away back to the USA consulate. It is alleged that all four people left Pakistan in the evening on special flight. These four people are still at large.
General
Ahmad Shuja Pasha, emerged as fiercely hostile to Washington in his final year engaging in “shouting matches” with then CIA director Leon Panetta, cutting cooperation down to a minimum, ordering the harassment of U.S. diplomats in Pakistan and locking up CIA blackwater and agent
Shakil Afridi in Pakistan.
2012
Shakil Afridi, a Pakistani doctor who spied for the CIA to locate Osama bin Laden, was jailed for 33 years by a Pakistani court on charges of treason.
2019
Lt. General Javed Iqbal (Retd) and Brigadier Wasim Akram (Retd) were imprisoned for 14 years and sentenced to death respectively, on charges of spying for CIA on
Pakistan's nuclear program.
See also
*
Death of Osama bin Laden
Death is the end of life; the irreversible cessation of all biological functions that sustain a living organism. Death eventually and inevitably occurs in all organisms. The remains of a former organism normally begin to decompose sh ...
*
Milton Bearden - CIA station chief in Pakistan, 1986-1989
*
Inter-Services Intelligence activities in the United States
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cia Activities In Pakistan
Activities of foreign intelligence agencies in Pakistan
Political history of Pakistan
Pakistan–United States relations
Post-independence history of Pakistan
Pakistan
Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...