Pakistan and India have started sharing intelligence as part of an unprecedented co-operation effort between the long-time nuclear-armed foes overseen by the United States, US media reported Thursday. The Wall Street Journal said the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) arranged for the two South Asian nations to share information on Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), widely accused of plotting the November attacks in Mumbai that killed 166 people.
The arrangement has also applied to intelligence sharing on Taliban commanders who are leading a mounting insurgency against the Pakistani government, the Journal added, citing US officials. "We have to satisfy the Mumbai question, and show India that the threat is abating," an official involved in Washington's South Asia strategy told the newspaper.
An official at Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) said India and Pakistan had shared "a lot" of information about the Mumbai attack and were now working directly with one another, while keeping the CIA informed. Although Washington is not "under any illusions" about erasing long-standing suspicious between the two countries, it does see some progress, a US official told the Journal.
In an effort to stress to Islamabad that the Taliban threat to Pakistan is greater than the Indian threat, the US shares information with Pakistan, and sometimes with India, about the location of Taliban commanders and their training camps, the report said. The United States sometimes shares intelligence on Pakistan's efforts in combating militants with India, after obtaining Pakistan's consent, the newspaper said, citing a person familiar with the matter.