Pakistanis Complain That U.S. Not Sharing Counterterrorism Intel

March 29, 2014

No intelligence shared by US on terrorists moving to Syria

Dawn [Karachi]

ISLAMABAD Foreign Office spokeswoman Tasneem Aslam on Thursday said the United States had not provided any intelligence to the government which could establish that militants were travelling from Pakistan and towards Syria, DawnNews reported.

Aslam was responding to questions regarding a report recently published in The New York Times which had cited CIA chief John Brennan as saying that dozens of Al Qaeda militants based in Pakistan were seeking to establish bases in Syria to plan attacks on Europe and the United States.

“We are concerned about the use of Syrian territory by the Al Qaeda organisation to recruit individuals and develop the capability to be able not just to carry out attacks inside of Syria, but also to use Syria as a launching pad,” he said, according to the New York Times report.

US intelligence officials say that the Al Qaeda is seeking “a launching pad” in Syria because they have access to hundreds of American and European militants who have gone there to fight against the Syrian government and also because Syria is far away from US drone strikes.

Quoting intelligence assessments, the report also claimed that the senior Al Qaeda leadership in Pakistan, including chief Ayman Al Zawahiri, was developing a much more organised, long-term plan as opposed to creating specific cells in Syria to identify, recruit and train these westerners.

Citing US intelligence officials, the report also said that Al Qaeda-linked militants were currently focused on attacking Syrian forces.

However, the officials fear that Al Qaeda is also playing a long game by recruiting and training American and European militants in Syria so that the recruits will carry out attacks when they return to their countries.

“Clearly, there is going to be push and pull between local operatives and Al Qaeda central on attack planning. How fast the pendulum will swing towards trying something isn’t clear right now,” an unnamed US intelligence official has been quoted by the New York Times as saying.

“Syria has become a matter of homeland security. DHS, the FBI and the intelligence community will continue to work closely to identify those foreign fighters that represent a threat to the homeland,” he added.