WASHINGTON, US (AFP) — The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) has no plans to withdraw its top spy from Islamabad after his name was allegedly divulged in a Pakistani newspaper, a US official said yesterday.
The publication of the name came amid severe tensions between the two countries, with Islamabad complaining of "unilateralism" after a US raid last week that killed Osama bin Laden on Pakistani soil.
BIN LADEN… killed by US forces last week
"There are currently no plans to pull the CIA's chief of station out of Pakistan," a US official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told AFP.
Pakistani daily The Nation published the name, and may have spelled it incorrectly, The New York Times reported, citing unnamed officials.
The move appeared aimed at disrupting the work of the US spy agency in the aftermath of the bin Laden raid, US officials told the Times.
In December, the CIA had to withdraw its top spy in Islamabad after a newspaper published the name of the officer.
The White House said yesterday it would not "apologise" for launching the operation on bin Laden's compound in Abbottabad, north of Islamabad.
Pakistan's Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani criticised the US raid and also insisted the country reserves the right to "retaliate with full force", although he stopped short of spelling out what, if anything, would be done should the US stage another high-profile raid.
The CIA and the State Department declined to comment on the fate of the station chief in Islamabad.
But State Department spokesman Mark Toner said "counterterrorism co-operation with Pakistan is in our national security interest".
"It has yielded results, tangible results, over the last decade," he told reporters.
He added that it is "in our national interest to continue that co-operation" but "that's not to say we're always going to see eye-to-eye on every issue."
