Warnings, but scant backlash over CIA report

KARACHI, Pakistan -- Islamic hardliners in Pakistan urged the government of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to immediately put relations with the United States under "comprehensive review" on Wednesday in the wake of a U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee report which found the CIA used harsh interrogation tactics against terrorism suspects.

A senior government official, however, told CBS News' Farhan Bokhari the report, which revealed new details of the interrogation program which has since ended, would not alter relations with Washington.

The U.S. Embassy in Islamabad warned American citizens in Pakistan of the potential for anti-U.S. protests and violence after the committee's findings were released. U.S. embassies in Afghanistan and Thailand -- countries where U.S. agents were said to have carried out some of the interrogations -- also issued similar warnings on Tuesday.

As of Wednesday morning, no protests had been seen, in any nations, linked to the release of the Senate committee's report.

Pakistan quickly became one of Washington's most important security partners after the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks focused the Bush administration on eliminating the threat posed by al Qaeda and the Taliban in neighboring Afghanistan. Since then, Pakistan's Islamic hardliners have argued against cooperation with the U.S. and its allies in the region.

Liaquat Baloch, a key leader of the Jamaat-i-Islami political party -- a hardline opposition party which holds significant sway in Pakistani public opinion -- told Bokhari that Pakistan should "undertake a comprehensive review of our relations with the U.S."

Baloch said the intelligence committee's report had vindicated the position taken by his party.

"We have said all along, Pakistan's relations with the U.S. have only caused pain and anguish for our country," he said.

In Islamabad, however, a senior Pakistani official told Bokhari the country's diplomatic and security ties with the U.S. would not be affected by the report.

"The U.S. remains a very large donor of assistance and military support to Pakistan. We take this relationship very, very seriously and that will not change," said the official, who spoke to CBS News on the condition of anonymity.

Western officials in Islamabad also warned that Islamic extremists were likely to use the report on CIA interrogations in propaganda and new calls for attacks on U.S. citizens, echoing dire fears expressed by many American officials in the run-up to the report being publicized.

Speaking a couple days before the release of the Senate committee's findings on Tuesday, Rep. Mike Rogers told CNN that unidentified foreign governments and U.S. intelligence agencies were worried the information would cause "violence and deaths" around the world.

As of Wednesday, there was scant mention of the report's findings on any of the primary jihadist blogs or forums. No references to the report had appeared on the official media channels of the Taliban, al Qaeda or the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS).

A Taliban spokesman in Afghanistan did tell CBS News' Ahmad Mukhtar the group would "intensify attacks" targeting Americans in light of the report, but he also noted the group has "always targeted Americans and their facilities in Afghanistan."

These terror groups have for years used images of U.S. interrogations -- most notably the abuse at the U.S.-run Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq -- in their propaganda to bolster their argument that America is at war with Islam and to recruit new fighters.