Pakistan spy chief arrives in U.S. for talks

Wonk watch: Gretchen Peters, "Haqqani Network Financing" (CTC).

Elite dialogue

The director of Pakistan’s intelligence agency, Lt. Gen. Zaheerul Islam, landed in Washington on Wednesday for his first visit to the United States in that post, and will hold talks with senior U.S. officials over the next three days (NYT, AJE, ET, BBC). Pakistan’s opposition to U.S. drone attacks on its territory is expected to take center stage in the talks, particularly between Lt. Gen. Islam and his U.S. counterpart, CIA director David Petraeus. 

President Barack Obama’s nominee for the position of U.S. ambassador to Pakistan, Richard Olson, said Tuesday at a confirmation hearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that he would make pressing the Pakistani government on the Haqqani Network a priority at his new posting if confirmed (NYT). The Haqqani Network has launched several high-profile attacks against Afghan and NATO forces in Afghanistan, and many of its leaders enjoy safe haven in Pakistan.

The Indian government on Wednesday formally allowed foreign direct investment (FDI) from Pakistan, meaning Pakistani citizens will now be able to invest in all sectors of the Indian economy except defense, space, and atomic energy (Reuters).

Two Pakistani troops were injured and four to seven militants killed during a clash in the Darbori region of Upper Orakzai Agency on Wednesday (ET, Dawn). Security officials claim to have cleared 97% of Darbori of militants. Across the border, Afghan officials said Wednesday that the Taliban had executed four civilians in Wardak Province for working for a foreign security company, after kidnapping them on their way to work on Tuesday (AFP).

Back from the dead

A Bangladeshi man whose family believed him to be dead for 23 years returned home on Tuesday after an anonymous caller told a local official in Dhaka that he was alive and in jail in Pakistan (AP). Moslemuddin Sarkar was freed from a Karachi jail, and admitted to his family that he had run away 23 years ago to New Delhi, where he got married, but then was arrested in 1997 as he tried to cross the border into Pakistan without any documentation.