Pakistan’s ISI Under Microscope

The Takeaway

Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence agency (ISI) has received heavy scrutiny from the United States, after a raid by U.S. special forces on a compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, lead to the killing of Osama bin Laden. Information gathered from the raid suggests bin Laden had been living in that compound for close to six years. Many question the circumstances of the most wanted man in the world had been living safely within Pakistan’s borders, in a $1 million compound, for that long without anyone in the ISI knowing. However, with U.S.-Pakistan relations at stake, it is necessary to pay close attention to evidence and not jump to conclusions, says Christine Fair. Christine Fair is an assistant professor at the Center for Peace and Security Studies at Georgetown University. Ayesha Siddiqa, independent political analyst and author of “Military Inc: Inside Pakistan’s Military Economy,”  believes the ISI did have full knowledge of Osama bin Laden’s whereabouts.

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