New Delhi:
It was only weeks ago after the Indian embassy in Kabul was bombed that National Security Advisor M K Narayanan blamed the ISI and said it should be destroyed.
The ISI's role in helping terror groups has come under deeper scrutiny internationally but the agency is clearly calling the shots in Pakistan.
What's come under close scrutiny have been the developments over the weekend when the government first announced that the ISI would be under civilian control and then backtracked within hours, a clear sign that the spy agency calls the shots.
Preventing a showdown with President Bush is what many feel was behind the Pak government's decision to issue an order putting the ISI under the interior ministry's civilian control.
As it revoked the decision under 24 hours saying there had been a misunderstanding , Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani reiterated his government's committment to fight terror from the White House lawns.
Pakistan's ruling coalition had argued in favour of the transfer of control saying it would end foreign allegations that Pakistan's intelligence services were a law unto themselves.
In an article a leading international daily had noted that the US administration was running out of patience with Pakistan's inability to end cross border terrorism on the Pak-Afghan border. The newspaper said Gilani should expect a ",testy reception", in Washington.
India too has recently pointed to the ISI as being responsible for the embassy bombing in Kabul in early July, as well as for backing terrorist groups that strike cities across the country with impunity.
But curbing Pakistan's ISI that's run by army generals was seen as tantamount to taking on the Paksitan army, an unequal fight by any standards.
And the weekend twists over the fate of the agency only confirm fears that six months after the elections Pakistan's new civilian government is still unable to assert its control.