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Agence France-Presse

CIA pulls top spy from Pakistan amid death threats

GlobalPost
Updated on
The World

The CIA has pulled its top-ranking spy in Pakistan out of the country amid death threats, according to U.S. intelligence officials.

The spy, station chief in Pakistan, had recently been named in a lawsuit filed by a Pakistani man seeking $500 million for the death of his son and brother, who he alleges were killed in a U.S. drone strike. 

Karim Khan, a journalist from North Waziristan, called for Banks to be charged with murder. The spy, who left the country Thursday, was named in Pakistani media stories as Jonathan Banks.

The U.S. government does not publicly acknowledge the drone program. The station chief, who operates covertly and oversees all intelligence operations in Pakistan, manages the drone program.

Most previous suspected U.S. missile strikes have occurred in North Waziristan, near the Afghan border, where Al Qaeda and Taliban militants are believed to be most active.
The identity of the CIA station chief is normally a closely guarded secret. Khan's lawyer said he had obtained Banks's name from a Pakistani journalist and confirmed it with a second.

Suspected U.S. missile strikes from fired by unmanned drone aircraft reportedly killed at least 24 people in northwestern Pakistan on Friday. Pakistani officials said the missiles struck three locations Friday in the Khyber region, a base for the Taliban-allied group Lashkar-e-Islami. 

A day earlier, Pakistani officials said another U.S. missile strike in the area killed seven alleged militants.

This week's review of U.S. strategy in Afghanistan and Pakistan says greater cooperation is needed from Pakistan to deny a safe haven for terrorists in the border region.

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