A fancy yet discreet neighbourhood in Rawalpindi. Many high-ranking retired members of the Pakistani Army live here. Among them are former heads of the ISI, the Inter Service Intelligence, Pakistan’s largest and most powerful intelligence service.

Since the ISI's creation in 1948, 16 different generals have succeeded at the head of the agency. Many of these retired generals live here, but only one agreed to talk to us. General Hamid Gul - now 76 - was the boss of the ISI between 1987 and 1989.

At that time, Benazir Bhutto was the country's prime minister, and in neighbouring Afghanistan, war was raging against the Soviet Union. “We did quite well: we won the war, so what else one can have in one lifetime?” asks General Hamid Gul.

But the very secretive agency he used to command is about to radically change. The government has decided to dismantle the political branch of the ISI, a way of bringing the service’s 25,000 agents back into line.

General Gul is sceptical about this: “The government has given to playing gimmicks so many times in the past that one can really doubt about all this. But let’s hope this is absolutely true!”

Reforming what is often seen as a state within the state isn’t the easiest thing. The ISI has often been accused of assassinations, kidnappings and conspiracies of all sorts - as well as collaborating with Taliban groups.

General Gul thinks otherwise: “It is not believable that in blatant contradiction of government policies the ISI would be playing the wrong role of making contacts with the terrorists themselves! I don’t believe that… That’s American propaganda!”

In his time General Gul fought alongside Mujahideen soldiers, some of whom then joined the Taliban. Despite all these years, he finds it hard to break away from his former allies: “The Taliban are also reformed! I’m sure they’ll find their ways… They have existed for 5,000 years, America is less than 300 years old!”

But for the spokesman of the ISI, General Gul’s position belongs to the past: “I don’t want to comment on what General Gul said, but what I can tell you is that whatever the government and the state’s policy is, the ISI is following that policy. The government has decided to finish up this section which I think would allow the ISI to concentrate more on its professional duties.”

But forcing the ISI to turn its back on its troublesome past is no easy task. For the Western-backed government in Islamabad, the hope is that the intelligence agency may now focus its efforts on fighting against terrorism.