It was the American Central Intelligence Agency that made India and Pakistan share highly sensitive evidence after the deadly Mumbai terrorist attacks last November, says a report in the Washington Post.
The United States, the report says, acted as "a neutral arbiter between the two former enemies".
The exchanges, which began days after the deadly assault in late November, gradually helped the two sides overcome mutual suspicions and paved the way for Islamabad's announcement last week acknowledging that some of the planning for the attack had occurred on Pakistani soil, the report said, quoting sources.
The intelligence, according to sources, went beyond whatever information publicly shared about how the 10 terrorists planned and executed their three-day killing spree in Mumbai, the report said.
The report said Indian and Pakistani intelligence agencies separately shared their findings with the CIA, which relayed the details while also vetting the intelligence and filling in blanks with gleanings from its networks, the sources said.
"India shared evidence bilaterally, but that's not what cinched it," said a senior Pakistani official familiar with the exchanges.
"It was the details, shared between intelligence agencies, with the CIA serving mainly as a bridge," the paper said in a report that has far-reaching implications.
The FBI, the report said, also participated in the sharing process.
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