Pakistan names new intelligence service head

Pakistan named a new head of its main intelligence service, a change sure to be scrutinized by American officials who have questioned the powerful spy agency’s loyalties in the war on terror.

Lt. Gen. Ahmed Shujaa Pasha, the new chief of the Inter-Services Intelligence agency, oversaw military offensives against militants in Pakistan’s restive northwest tribal areas in his most recent job as director general of military operations.

Pakistani intelligence helped create the Taliban. U.S. intelligence agencies suspect rogue ISI elements may still be giving the Taliban sensitive information to aid militants in their growing insurgency in Afghanistan, even though officially, Pakistan is a U.S. ally in fighting terrorism.

There are lingering suspicions that elements in the ISI may want to retain the Taliban as assets against longtime rival India. India, Afghanistan – and reportedly the U.S. – suspect the ISI of involvement in the July 7 bombing outside India’s Embassy in Kabul, which killed more than 60 people.

Pakistan denies the allegations.