Pakistan demands US close military intelligence centres: Report

Centres are US military's main conduits to share satellite imagery, target data, intelligence with Pakistani army.

Pakistan has asked the United States to close three military intelligence liaison centres, according to a report published in the US newspaper the Los Angeles Times.

The Los Angeles Times reports that two of the liaison centres, known as fusion cells, are in Peshawar while one is working in Quetta. The fusion cells help coordinate operations on both sides of the border and are the US military’s main conduits to share satellite imagery, target data and other intelligence with the Pakistani army.

The newspaper claims that the step effectively removes US advisers from the frontlines of the war against terrorism in Pakistan.

The closure of these cells is being seen as the latest in several steps that have manifested the growing mistrust between the US and Pakistan.

The closure of the three cells has not been publicly announced yet, but the report stated that Admiral Mike Mullen flew to Pakistan on Thursday for a hastily arranged meeting with General Ashfaq Pervez Kayani which is presumed to be discussing Pakistan’s demands for a smaller US military presence.

The report also quoted US officials saying that collapse of the effort would probably hinder the Obama administration's efforts to gradually push Pakistan toward conducting ground operations against insurgent strongholds in North Waziristan and elsewhere

Earlier, the US military on Wednesday said that it had begun pulling some American troops out of Pakistan after Islamabad’s request for a smaller presence.