U.S.-PAKISTAN COUNTER-TERRORISM BILATERALS

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 ISLAMABAD 003176

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/02/2018
TAGS: PGOV PHUM PINR PK PREL PTER
SUBJECT: U.S.-PAKISTAN COUNTER-TERRORISM BILATERALS

Classified By: Anne W. Patterson for reasons 1.4 (b),(d).


1. (C) Summary: On August 22, a delegation led by Coordinator
for Counterterrorism Ambassador Dailey met with a delegation
led by Minister of the Interior Malik for a counter-terrorism
bilateral, the first such dialogue since 2006. The topics of
discussion included security forces training, terrorist
financing, narco-terrorism, and bioterrorism. The USG and
the GOP agreed to make these talks a bi-annual event, to
examine how to better bring Afghanistan into the conversation
for increased coordination, and to work jointly on regional
public diplomacy campaigns. End summary.


2. (C) On August 22, the United States, led by Ambassador and
Dell Dailey, Coordinator of the Office for Counterterrorism,
and Pakistan, led by Interior Minister Rehman Malik and
representatives from the Ministry of Interior (MOI),engaged
in counter-terrorism (CT) bilateral dialogues, the first such
dialogue since 2006.

Threat Briefings
--------------


3. (C) Following the opening statements, an analyst from the
Bureau of Intelligence and Research provided the U.S. threat
briefing with a focus on al Qaeda and suicide bombings. The
conference occurred the day after a suicide bombing killed 63
Pakistanis at a munitions factory in Wah, outside of
Islamabad. MOI Brigadier (retd) Javed Iqbal Cheema provided
a sophisticated analysis on the number and increasing
sophistication of attacks that Pakistan has witnessed over
the past few years, noting an increase in attacks in all four
major Pakistani cities.

Security Forces/Police Training
--------------


4. (C) Tariq Khosa, the Director General of the National
Police Bureau, thanked the USG for the important training
that it had provided to a large number of his police forces,
including for approximately 1000 trainees through the Bureau
of Diplomatic Security's Office of Antiterrorism Assistance
(DS/ATA) CT Training and approximately 4000 trainees through
the International Criminal Investigative Training Assistance
Program (ICITAP),funded by the Bureau of International
Narcotics and Law Enforcement (INL). After discussing
several of the successes of the Pakistani police forces,
Khosa described current asset requirements, which included
two helicopters for coverage in Balochistan and the Northwest
Frontier Province (NWFP),10,000 nine-millimeter pistols, and
25,000 bullet proof vests. Dailey reminded Khosa that, to
respond, the U.S. first needed a practical, detailed strategy
for improved law enforcement, and a description of how the
equipment requested would fit into that strategy.


5. (C) Representatives from DS/ATA also discussed the current
training that they were conducting for Pakistan's security
forces. DS/ATA also noted that, in response to the current
shift of priorities for the GOP to Balochistan and the NWFP,
they would admit a larger number of trainees from these
troubled areas to assist in gaining control of the growing
militancy. (Note. This briefing came a day after the
graduation of the first Pakistani, all-female crisis response
team (CRT) assigned to the Prime Minister and trained by
DS/ATA. End Note.)


6. (C) The Embassy Border Coordinator also described USG
efforts to support the Frontier Corps, as well as helping
improve other law enforcement bodies within the troubled
areas of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) and
the NWFP. In looking ahead, the USG has offered to work with
the GOP in developing comprehensive, long term plans for
security forces working along the entire Pak/Afghan border.
Additionally, the USG and GOP agreed to examine the projected
equipment needs of the security forces (especially the elite
forces within the NWFP),such as helicopters, 9mm pistols,
bulletproof vests, and how those equipment upgrades support a
larger strategy for improving the security situation in the
border regions.

Narcotics-Terrorism
--------------


7. (C) Dailey opened the terrorist finance discussion with a

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review of USG concerns about shortcomings with the Pakistan
Anti-Money Laundering Act 2007, bulk cash courier movements,
the autonomy of the Financial Monitoring Unit (FMU),and
support for China's holds on Pakistan-related designations by
the UN 1267 Committee. He also offered to explore seeking
additional funding for training, mentoring, and capacity
building for law enforcement and the FMU on preventing money
laundering and terrorism finance issues. In response to a GOP
request for more evidence on the 1267 concerns, Dailey
presented statements of case on the 1267 holds to Interior
Secretary Kamal Shah, who welcomed the evidence and assured
Dailey that the GOP would carefully review these matters and
provide feedback.


8. (C) In response, the Commandant of the Special
Investigation Group (SIG) of the Federal Investigative Agency
(FIA) presented an overview of Pakistan's legal framework for
combating financial crimes, including the FIA and State Bank
of Pakistan's (SBP) steps taken to prevent and address such
crimes. The SIG was quick to note that Pakistan has a large
informal, undocumented economy, much of which involves
innocent movement of remittances, and the difficulty in
preventing financial crimes is targeting those committing the
crime while not penalizing those who have little access to
formal banking systems. Additionally, the Anti-Terrorism Act
of 1997, which is the basis for the majority of the FIA's
anti-terrorism and anti-terrorist financing efforts, does not
apply in the FATA where most of the corruption seems to
occur. The SIG welcomed any assistance from the USG in
training enforcement officials with streamlining their
efforts to prevent future financial criminality.

Counter-Narcotics
--------------


9. (C) Hasan Mahmood, the Senior Joint Secretary for the
Ministry of Narcotics Control, presented the GOP stance on
the narcotics-terrorism linkup. Mahmood noted that the drug
situation in Afghanistan continued to worsen as production
and cross-border supply routes increased; there is a
spillover effect of the drug trade on Pakistan, including
increased transit trade. Already struggling with the
realities of limited resources, the Anti-Narcotics Force
(ANF) is beginning to feel a greater strain in trying to
prevent the growing narco-terrorist threat. Although the ANF
has experienced some great successes with the assistance of
the USG in capturing and arresting narco-traffickers
throughout Pakistan, Mahmood reported that the biggest
challenge it faces is the lack of assistance they receive
from the Government of Afghanistan (GOA) on this issue.


10. (C) Representatives from both INL and the Office of Naval
Intelligence (ONI) further described the need to address the
counter-narcotics (CN) concern in Pakistan. INL noted that
what could start off as a purely transactional relationship
between narco-traffickers and insurgents/terrorists can
evolve (as in Pakistan and Afghanistan) into a broader,
cooperative, symbiotic relationship involving cash, weapons,
and the merger of a unified ideological, operational
apparatus. Using successful CN models from other countries,
ONI and INL reported that the USG is currently developing
interagency plans to focus on improved interdiction
capability for security and law enforcement agencies in
Pakistan's troubled areas. (Note. Dailey closed this session
by giving assurances to the GOP that the USG would form a
trilateral dialogue to better address this growing concern
with the GOA. End note.)

Bioterrorism
--------------


11. (C) Although the GOP was not prepared to address the
issue of bioterrorism Dailey wanted to provide the GOP with
the opportunity to see how the USG was addressing this
concern in relation to Pakistan. The Deputy Director from
the Bureau of International Security and Nonproliferation
Office of Cooperative Threat Reduction (ISN/CT),Dr. Jason
Rao, briefed the delegation on the biosafety and biosecurity
issues of mutual concern. Referring to biothreats as a "very
real and significant threat," Rao noted that infectious
disease contamination represented a significant threat to the
people of Pakistan, including their security, economy and
struggling public health infrastructure. To combat this
concern, a robust biodefense strategy was needed, which would

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combine awareness, protection, disease detection, and
recovery planning. The USG offered to convene a joint
Pakistan/U.S. working group on bioterrorism and biosecurity
to further study the issue and to find appropriate training
for Pak officials in this realm. Additionally, both sides
agreed to exchange information on al Qaeda efforts to procure
and use WMD.


12. (C) Mansoor Khan, the Director of the Americas Division
at the MFA, reported that the GOP would be willing to discuss
biosecurity cooperation only after finalizing GOP
implementation of the Biological Weapons Convention. Not
giving a timeline for the implementation, Khan also noted
that the appropriate point of contact for any future
biosecurity discussions would be the MFA's Disarmament
Division.

Closing
--------------


13. (C) In closing, Dailey assured the MOI that this was a
successful meeting and suggested that it become a biannual
event. Dailey also offered to host the next CT bilateral
dialogue in DC approximately six months from the closing of
this meeting, approximately in February 2009.


14. (U) Ambassador Dailey has not cleared this cable.
PATTERSON