The US Central Intelligence Agency helped arrange back-channel intelligence exchanges between India and Pakistan in the wake of the Mumbai attacks in order to avoid conflict between the two nations, The Washington Post reported Sunday. Citing unnamed US and foreign government sources, the newspaper said that due to the CIA's effort the two countries quietly shared highly sensitive intelligence while the Americans served as neutral arbiters.
The exchanges included sophisticated communications intercepts and an array of physical evidence detailing how the 10 Mumbai gunmen and their supporters planned and executed their three-day killing spree in the Indian port city, the report said.