ISI chief Zaheer ul-Islam held talks in the United States

WASHINGTON: The new Inter-Services Intelligence Chief Lieutenant General Zaheer ul-Islam held talks in the United States on Wednesday after a prolonged gap as the countries look to renew their uneasy cooperation in battling extremists. The ISI Chief comes just after Pakistan agreed to give NATO convoys access to its border with Afghanistan. Islam held meetings Wednesday at the Central Intelligence Agency headquarters in Langley, Virginia, a person familiar with his trip said. Spokespeople for the CIA and Pakistani embassy declined comment. Islam was appointed in March after the retirement of ISI chief Ahmed Shuja Pasha, who led the agency since September 2008. Pakistan had shut its border to NATO convoys in November last year after a US air strike killed 24 Pakistani troops. Islamabad reopened land routes seven months later after Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said sorry over the deaths. On Tuesday, Pakistan signed a deal to let convoys through until the end of 2015, in a major relief for the United States, which plans to pull most troops out of Afghanistan before then.