The official story is that he left the post due to illness. Does being “sick of it all” count? Among other things, there has been the detention of the U.S. ambassador at the Islamabad airport, the unregistered ISI agent running a Kashmiri interest group in the U.S. for two decades, the implication of the ISI in the murder of Syed Saleem Shahzad, the release of Hassan Gul after promises to the contrary, the tipping off of jihadists running a bomb factory, the continued sponsorship of multiple jihadist groups… oh, and that whole bin Laden thing. You get the idea. “Did CIA chief who led hunt for bin Laden quit over lack of cooperation from Pakistan?” from the Daily Mail, August 1:
The U.S. spy chief in Islamabad has unexpectedly quit his post amid rumours of a rift with his Pakistani colleagues.
U.S. and Pakistani officials say the CIA station chief who ran operations in Pakistan during the raid that killed Osama bin Laden left his post due to illness.
But another Pakistani source claims issues surrounding the working relationship between spies from the two countries led to the sudden departure.
The station chief, who cannot be named because he works undercover, is said to have been an important liaison with Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence agency.
He guided intelligence operations in the country through a troubled time in U.S.-Pakistani relations.
The senior spook’s sudden resignation was first reported by CBS news, citing a Pakistani government official who spoke on condition of anonymity.
The official told CBS ‘there were issues both internal to America’s working in Pakistan and issues with Pakistan’ which prompted the departure. […]
A European ambassador, who spoke to CBS News on condition of anonymity, said the senior spy’s departure ‘deeply suggests that the U.S.-Pakistan relationship continues to be surrounded with tension’.
The ambassador added: ‘Unless the U.S. and Pakistan quickly work out their differences, we will have to live with some pretty severe consequences.’
The news came as Pakistan imposed travel curbs on U.S. and other diplomats in the latest sign of worsening ties between the troubled allies since the killing of bin Laden.
A Western diplomatic source said the U.S. embassy received a ‘diplomatic note’ from the Pakistani foreign ministry last month, setting travel guidelines for diplomats outside the capital Islamabad.
The restrictions came amid Pakistani media reports that U.S. diplomats travelling from Islamabad were turned away from the north-western city of Peshawar in recent weeks for not having a ‘no objection certificate’ from authorities….