Conflicts rise as U.S. Officials pressure Pakistan to prove unaccountability of bin Laden’s hideaway
Conflicts rise between the American and Pakistani authorities as senior officials of the Obama government demand explanation from the latter on how Osama bin Laden managed to hide in Pakistan on Tuesday.
The Pakistani government issued a bold statement labeling the attack of the murdered Al Qaeda leader as “an unauthorized unilateral action.”
White House counterterrorism adviser, John O. Brennan, there were many questions about how the extensive compound “was able to be there for so many years with Bin Laden resident there and it didn’t come to the attention of the local authorities.” “We need to understand what sort of support network that Bin Laden might have had in place,” Brennan emphasized during an interview with ABC.
Distrust caused by this issue intensified endeavors made by some Congressmen to retrieve American aid to Pakistan as the Pakistani government has been depicted by some lawmaker as a double-dealing ally unworthy of any help from Washington.
American government officials and some members of Congress, on the contrary, appeared firm in avoiding any kind of break in relations that would jeopardize the counterterrorism association which the C.I.A. has cautiously created over the last few years in Pakistan.
On Monday, the American special envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan delivered what American officials depicted as a strict message to senior Pakistani military and intelligence leaders in Islamabad. Marc Grossman, the messenger, told them that “patience in Congress was wearing thin”, officials familiar with the discussions said.
American officials want to learn more about the network which Bin Laden tapped for support by examining his computer files and documents that members of the Navy Seals took hold of during Monday’s raid.
Top Pakistani officials fervidly refuted that Islamabad protected Bin Laden as American officials still do not have hard evidence that any Pakistani officials visited the compound in Abbottabad or have had any direct contacts with Bin Laden.
Senator Dianne Feinstein, chairwoman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, admitted that she had no proof that Pakistan’s government knew where Bin Laden was hiding, but doubted whether the Pakistani government’s lack of knowledge about the compound is merely indifference or indifference with a motive.
A civilian official in the Pakistani government conveyed that he is unsure whether the Directorate of Inter-Services Intelligence helped Bin Laden hide or was simply unaware of his presence in Abbottabad. Either way, he said Osama’s death was an international humiliation for the Pakistani spy agency.
However, Grossman was more diplomatic in Islamabad on Tuesday that the United States remains committed to its partnership with Pakistan and that Pakistan was “determined to curb terrorism.”