Daily Brief: U.S. to Send Top Military Official to Ease Tension with Pakistan

Jennifer Rowland of The AFPAK Channel writes the Daily Brief: U.S. to send top military official to ease tension with Pakistan -

Senior U.S. military commander General James Mattis will reportedly travel to Pakistan sometime this month for talks with Pakistani Army chief General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani to discuss the results of investigations into a NATO airstrike that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers in November (NYT, ET, Dawn). Pakistan's Defense Minister on Tuesday urged the government to reopen its border to supplies destined for NATO troops in Afghanistan once the coalition has met Pakistani demands, which could include imposing higher fees on trucks using Pakistani roads (Dawn, The News, ET, AP).

Pakistan's powerful Inter-Services Intelligence Directorate (ISI) faces two legal cases this month, one will begin with a hearing tomorrow, and concerns seven suspected militants who have been held by the ISI since 2010, as well as four other detainees who have died over the past six months in ISI custody (NYT). The second case will begin with a hearing on February 29 accusing the ISI of vote-rigging by illegally donating $6.5 million in order to influence the general election in 1990. Meanwhile, a Pakistani-American cab driver pleaded guilty in Chicago on Monday to sending money to Ilyas Kashmiri - a Pakistan-based al-Qaeda operative now thought to be dead - with the intention of helping Kashmiri purchase explosives (AP).

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