Shortly after the US raid in Abbottabad that killed Osama Bin Laden, the CIA's top operative was pulled out of Pakistan because he suspected he was poisoned, claims a recent report published in a US newspaper.
In 2011, Mark Kelton, now 59 and retired, served as the Central Intelligence Agency's station chief in Pakistan for less than seven months — a period of tense relations between the US and Pakistan.
It was the second such departure in seven months from the post, after his predecessor was forced to leave when his identity was revealed by media after being named in a lawsuit.
According to the Washington Post, the CIA official started experiencing health problems shortly after the US military raid on the Al Qaeda chief's compound in May.
He was pulled out of the country by July in a move vaguely attributed to health concerns and his strained relationship with Islamabad. But, according to the report, the CIA station chief was so violently ill that he was often doubled over in pain.
"Trips out of the country for treatment proved futile. And the cause of his ailment was so mysterious, the officials said, that both he and the agency began to suspect that he had been poisoned,” reports the Washington Post.
The CIA official at first thought he had come down with a digestive disorder many Americans catch when they visit South Asia. But by July, Kelton was in what one official described as a “severe medical crisis.”
Less than seven months after arriving in Pakistan, the CIA official informed his bosses that he could no longer continue the job.
The story has been rejected by Pakistani officials, who dismissed all accusations of the country's intelligence agency being involved in foul play.
“Obviously the story is fictional, not worthy of comment,” said Pakistan Embassy spokesman Nadeem Hotiana. “We reject the insinuations implied in the allegations.”
US officials also admitted that the CIA never saw proof of Kelton's suspected poisoning.
“We have uncovered no evidence that Pakistani authorities poisoned a US official serving in Pakistan,” CIA spokesman Dean Boyd said.
According to the Washington Post report, some of Kelton’s colleagues also remained skeptical that the CIA official was poisoned, believing instead that Kelton’s condition was more likely caused by bad food or job pressure.
Kelton has now retired from CIA and his health has recovered after abdominal surgery.
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