Gunmen attack NATO trucks in Northwest Pakistan; New MoU on renewed engagement with US to be signed at earliest; ISI and CIA chiefs to meet in August
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  • According to reports, gunmen in northwest Pakistan have attacked a convoy of container trucks carrying supplies for NATO troops in Afghanistan, killing one of the drivers. The assault on July 24, 2012, was the first such attack since the supply lines reopened three weeks ago, following a seven-month blockade imposed by the Pakistani government. The attack took place near the market in Jamrud, on the outskirts of Peshawar, the provincial capital of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province. 1

    In another development, according to reports, Pakistan on July 24, 2012, expressed hope that the new Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) regarding new terms of engagements with United States and ISAF on the issue of resuming NATO supplies through Pakistan will be signed soon. In his weekly news briefing, the Foreign Office Spokesman Moazzam Ahmed Khan said the MoU, which has already been approved by the federal cabinet in its meeting held on July 18, 2012, is in line with the recommendations of the parliament. He noted that at this stage there is only one MoU concerning the ministry of defence. Replying to a question about strategic dialogue between Pakistan and the United States, the spokesman said the schedule in this regard has not yet been finalised. 2

    In other developments, reports noted that Director General of Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) Lieutenant General Zaheer-u-ul Islam will hold talks in Washington on August 1-3, 2012 with his CIA counterpart. It is the first time in a year that the chief of the Pakistan military’s powerful ISI will make the trip, signaling a thaw in relations after US troops found and killed Osama bin Laden in Pakistan in May 2011. Lieutenant General Islam, who was appointed in March, “will visit USA from 1st to 3rd August. This will be a service-to-service bilateral visit,” a Pakistan military statement said. 3

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