U.S. says Pakistan harassing diplomats, denying visas

ISLAMABAD — Parts of the Pakistani military and intelligence services are mounting what U.S. officials in Islamabad describe as a campaign to harass American diplomats, fraying relations at a critical moment when the Obama administration is demanding more help to fight the Taliban and al-Qaida.

The campaign includes the refusal to extend or approve visas for more than 100 U.S. officials and the frequent searches of U.S. diplomatic vehicles in major cities, said an American official.

The problems affected military attachés, CIA officers, development experts, junior-level diplomats and others, a senior U.S. diplomat said. As a result, some U.S. aid programs to Pakistan, which President Obama has called a critical ally, are "grinding to a halt," the diplomat said.

U.S. helicopters used by Pakistan to fight extremists can no longer be serviced because visas for 14 U.S. mechanics have not been approved, the diplomat said. Reimbursements to Pakistan of nearly $1 billion a year for its counterterrorism operations were suspended because embassy accountants had to leave the country.

"There's an incredible disconnect between what they want of us and the fact we can't get the visas," the diplomat said.

Pakistani officials acknowledged the situation but said the menacing atmosphere resulted from U.S. arrogance and provocations, such as taking photographs in sensitive areas, and a lack of understanding of how divided Pakistanis were about the alliance with the United States.

U.S. and Pakistani officials declined to be identified because of their senior positions and the desire not to further inflame tensions.

The campaign comes after months of rising anti-American sentiment in Pakistan and complaints by the military that the government of President Asif Ali Zardari has grown too dependent on a new $7.5 billion, five-year aid plan from the United States.

It also appears to be an attempt to blunt the planned expansion of the U.S. Embassy to 800 Americans from 500 in the next 18 months, growth U.S. officials say is necessary to channel the expanded American assistance.

"They don't want more Americans here," another U.S. diplomat said. "They're not sure what the Americans are doing. It's pretty pervasive."

The harassment has grown so frequent that U.S. officials said they regarded it as a concerted effort by parts of the military and intelligence services that have grown resentful of U.S. demands to step up the war against the Taliban and al-Qaida in Pakistan's tribal areas.

Although the United States has been sending large amounts of military aid to the Pakistani army, and helping its spy agency, the Inter-Services Intelligence directorate, the campaign shows the ambivalence, even "hatred" toward the United States in those quarters, the U.S. official said.

A Pakistani security official, who has kept a tally of many of the incidents, was not sympathetic, saying the Americans had brought the problems on themselves.

"Unfortunately, the Americans are arrogant," the Pakistani security official said. "They think of themselves as omnipotent. That's how they come across."

For instance, he said, the Pakistani police were not harassing U.S. diplomats as they drove up to checkpoints, but rather were responding to provocations by U.S. officials.

He cited a recent report in some Pakistani newspapers that a U.S. diplomat had been taking photographs in a military area of the city of Lahore.

The reports were false, a U.S. Embassy spokesman said. The so-called diplomat was a technical-support officer who was not carrying a camera, the spokesman said.

At least 135 U.S. diplomats have been refused extensions on their visas, the senior American diplomat said, leaving some sections of the embassy operating at 60 percent of capacity.

One of the most harmful consequences, the diplomat said, is the scaling back of helicopter missions by the Frontier Corps paramilitary troops fighting the Taliban in the tribal areas because of a lack of trained U.S. mechanics.

Much of the heightened suspicions about U.S. diplomats appear linked to persistent stories in the Pakistani media about the presence of U.S. security company Blackwater, now called Xe Services, in Pakistan.

The embassy has denied Xe operates in Pakistan. And The Associated Press reported last week that CIA Director Leon Panetta canceled a contract for Xe workers to arm drones earlier this year.