Pakistan’s ambassador to US resigns

Pakistan’s ambassador to the United States resigned Tuesday in the wake of a controversial memo he was accused of authoring that was sent in May to then-Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm. Mike Mullen.

Husain Haqqani announced his resignation Tuesday with a Tweet: “I have requested [Prime Minister Yousuf Raza] Gilani to accept my resignation as Pakistan Ambasssador to US.”

Haqqani denied he was the author of the memo — authored in the aftermath of the U.S. raid on Osama bin Laden’s compound — which requested American intervention to help stop Pakistan’s military from overthrowing the country’s civilian leaders. In exchange, the memo states, Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari would launch an independent inquiry into Pakistan’s knowledge of bin Laden’s location.

Haqqani offered to resign last week, and he flew back to Islamabad to meet with the country’s leaders about the memo. Reports from the Pakistani capital Tuesday indicated that Gilani wanted Haqqani to resign so an investigation could be “carried out properly.”

Haqqani said on Twitter Tuesday that he's thinking about what to do next. "I have much to contribute to building a new Pakistan free of bigotry & intolerance, he wrote. "Will focus energies on that."

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