In troubling news, U.S. intelligence officials have presented evidence to the Pakistani government linking their intelligence service, the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), to the July bombing of the Indian embassy in Kabul Afghanistan. The intelligence indicates that the ISI has been playing a provocative and disruptive role in Afghanistan. Tensions are now escalating between India and Pakistan, as fighting occurred between the Indian and Pakistan armies along the disputed Kashmir border. While U.S. officials long worried about the ISI’s support for the Taliban, these turn of events are particularly troublesome given the deteriorating security situation in Afghanistan and the tough challenges regarding control of the military by the civilian government in Pakistan. Had the Bush administration paid greater attention to a balanced and focused policy toward Afghanistan and Pakistan after 9/11, we would almost certainly not be facing these problems today.

American intelligence agencies conclude that Pakistan aided Indian embassy bombing in Afghanistan. According to U.S. officials, the intelligence agencies have concluded that members of Pakistan’s spy service, the powerful Inter-Services Intelligence, or ISI, helped plan the bombing of India’s embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan. The conclusion was drawn from intercepted communications between Pakistani intelligence officers and the militants who carried out July 7 the attack, which killed 54, including an Indian defense attaché. U.S. officials, “also said there was new information showing that members of the Pakistani intelligence service were increasingly providing militants with details about the American campaign against them, in some cases allowing militants to avoid American missile strikes in Pakistan’s tribal areas.” [NY Times, 8/1/08]

The attacks have heightened tensions between Pakistan and its archrival, India. Pakistani troops clashed with Indian forces this week, with forces firing at each other across the Kashmir frontier for more than 12 hours overnight Monday. The clashes threatened to unravel an uneasy cease-fire between the nations that has held since November 2003. In recent years, Afghanistan has been a point of contention between Pakistan and India. “The ISI has long maintained ties to militant groups in the tribal areas, in part to court allies it can use to contain Afghanistan’s power. In recent years, Pakistan’s government has also been concerned about India’s growing influence inside Afghanistan, including New Delhi’s close ties to the government of Hamid Karzai, the Afghan president.” [NY Times, 8/1/08]

Pakistan’s recent actions threaten its relationship with the west. “Some American officials have begun to suggest that Pakistan is no longer a fully reliable American partner and to advocate some unilateral American action against militants based in the tribal areas.” Moreover, “Britain’s senior military officer said in Washington on Thursday that an American and British program to help train Pakistan’s Frontier Corps in the tribal areas had been delayed while Pakistan’s military and civilian officials sorted out details about the program’s goals.” [NY Times, 8/1/08]

Leading members of Congress claim that the re-written Executive Order 12333 that was announced yesterday announced yesterday, which organizes the intelligence community, was crafted with little oversight or input from Congress. Republican Congressman, Peter Hoekstra said in an interview. "As far as this administration is concerned, the best oversight is no oversight."

The Washington Post claims that Obama and McCain’s Iraq plans for Iraq are converging…an assertion disputed by both campaigns.

The Guantanamo Bay military commission trial of Salim Ahmed Hamdan has convened a secret session to hear defense testimony of two highly classified witnesses, generating more controversy over the commission’s legitimacy and credibility.

Bruce E. Ivans, a top government expert who helped the FBI investigate the 2001 anthrax attacks before becoming a suspect, died of an apparent suicide on Tuesday, as he was about to be charged by the Justice Department in the case.

Tensions between Fatah and Hamas have risen again following Hamas’ alleged kidnapping
of Fatah leaders in the Gaza Strip this morning.

Iran’s response to the EU nuclear deal is expected tomorrow or shortly thereafter.

Thirteen U.S. soldiers died in Iraq in July, the lowest monthly death toll of the five-year conflict, and Iraq’s civilian casualties in July were only a quarter of the July 2007 death toll,underlining the improvement in the security situation that President Bush cited when he announced that troop withdrawals and cuts in the length of battle tours were ahead.

The IAEA is expected to approve the U.S.-India nuclear deal in a session today, yet tensions and debate continues, particularly with Pakistan.

The resignation of Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has significantly dimmed hopes for a peace deal with Palestinians by the end of George W. Bush’s presidency, though the administration remains positive in statements.

Radovan Karadzic, former Bosnian Serb leader charged with war crimes including genocide, appeared before the UN war crimes tribunal yesterday, announcing his decision to defend himself and that the media coverage of his capture and actions has already denied him a fair trial.