Pakistan names new intelligence chief in military reshuffle

From M & C.

Pakistan has appointed a new chief of the country's main spy agency Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) in a major reshuffle of the senior military leadership. Lieutenant General Ahmed Shuja Pasha was appointed ISI director general, according to an army statement issued late Tuesday. He will replace Lieutenant General Nadeem Taj, a loyalist of former president Pervez Musharraf, who resigned in August to avoid impeachment. Army Chief General Ishfaq Parvez Kayani also appointed, with the approval of Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani, a new chief of general staff and replaced four of the nine corps commanders. The move is also to strengthen Kayani's grip over his forces. The reshuffle comes at a time when Islamabad has intensified its push against the Islamist extremist Taliban and al-Qaeda militants in the lawless tribal region along the Afghan border.

One can only hope this reshuffle is intent on making the Pakistani military more prone to battle isurgents as opposed to siding with them. Given that these appointments were approved by PM Gilani, it appears they are being done to do just that, namely, weed out individuals supportive of isurgents and bring commanders in to battle insurgents. The US did something similar in Iraq until it came up with the Petraeus/Odierno combination in Iraq which changed the way American forces battled insurgents in Iraq.

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