ISLAMABAD: Ahead of his trip to the US, Army Chief Gen Raheel Sharif has praised “sacrifices” rendered by premier intelligence agency — the Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) — for the defence of the country.

On Tuesday, during his first visit to the agency’s headquarters since the change in its command, Gen Sharif “appreciated the role played by the ISI for national security and lauded the contributions and sacrifices of its officers and men towards strengthening the defence of the motherland”, the Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR) said.

ISPR said the army chief was given a detailed briefing about the “internal and external security situation”. A picture released by ISPR showed ISI director-general Lt Gen Rizwan Akhtar briefing the army chief.

Know more: Rizwan Akhtar takes over as ISI chief

ISPR director-general Maj Gen Asim Bajwa tweeted that the message from the meeting was “zero tolerance for all forms of terrorism”.

Gen Sharif’s visit to the ISI headquarters came a few days ahead of his first visit to the United States. The army chief is scheduled to arrive in the US on Saturday.

A defence analyst commenting on Gen Sharif’s visit to the ISI headquarters said “the army chief may have visited the ISI offices for a comprehensive briefing because they prefer to do so in their own environment”.

US officials have generally been positive about Gen Sharif as they seek to improve military-to-military ties especially in view of the ongoing drawdown from Afghanistan.

US Special Envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan Daniel Feldman had in his visit to Islamabad a fortnight ago described the general as someone who was “open, engaging and articulate for Pakistan’s interests”.

American leaders have been supportive of Gen Sharif because of the counter-terrorism operation he launched in North Waziristan.

However, despite all that, Washington’s policy circles remain sceptical about Pakistan, as reflected in a recent US department of defence report on Afghanistan, which said: “Pakistan uses these proxy forces to hedge against the loss of influence in Afghanistan and to counter India’s superior military.”

A lot of the apprehensions are related to ISI, which has long been accused of meddling in the affairs of neighbouring countries. The intelligence outfit is indeed the favourite punching bag of many in Washington.

The joint statement issued during the visit of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the US — which called for “joint and concerted efforts, including the dismantling of safe havens for terrorist and criminal networks, to disrupt all financial and tactical support for networks such as Al Qaeda, Lashkar-e-Taiba, Jaish-e-Mohammad, the D-Company and the Haqqanis” — put a lot of pressure on Pakistan, though it was not named in it.

It’s in this context that Gen Sharif’s words of praise for ISI are being seen, and termed important.

Published in Dawn, November 12th, 2014