| Pakistan does not need US military trainers for its counter-terrorism operations, ISI chief Ahmed Shuja Pasha conveyed to his CIA counterpart during his recent fence-mending visit to the US, a media report said. The US recently suspended $800 million of its military assistance to Pakistan after the latter expelled US military trainers from the country in the aftermath of former al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden’s killing by US personnel in Abbottabad. According to a report in The Nation daily, Pasha told CIA Acting Director Michael Morrel that Pakistan will not allow resending a number of US military trainers sent back in the wake of the May 2 Abbotabbad raid. Military spokesman Maj Gen Athar Abbas also told the media that resumption of military aid was not on the agenda of Pasha’s visit. He said Pasha had a meeting with Morrell during which a range of intelligence issues were discussed and “both sides focused more on the way forward”. Pasha also reportedly told the CIA chief that in future the visit of US military personnel to Pakistan would be subjected to ISI clearance. The paper said that the ISI director general told the army chief Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani on his return that the US leadership had assured him that they would respect Pakistan’s sovereignty. Military leaders of Pakistan and the US have held a flurry of meetings over the past week aimed at easing tensions in bilateral ties, with the Foreign Office here saying that Islamabad is trying to convert “strategic convergence” into gains for both countries. The outgoing commander of US forces in Afghanistan, Gen David Petraeus, and his successor-to-be, Lt Gen John Allen, met Kayani late Thursday. This was preceded by US central command chief Gen James Mattis’s visit to Islamabad and Pasha’s trip to Washington. | 
