THE LIFE AND DEATH OF OSAMA BIN LADEN
By Syed Saleem Shahzad
ISLAMABAD – United States officials modified their narrative on Osama bin Laden’s killing on Monday in the Pakistani town of Abbottabad to protect Pakistan’s broader interests against threats from militants, saying that the Pakistanis had little involvement.
However, well-placed security sources maintain that the operation in Abbottabad – just a two-hour drive north of the capital Islamabad – was without a doubt a joint Pakistan-US effort and that all logistics were arranged inside Pakistan.
All the same, while Pakistan’s military command was aware that the operation targeted a high-value suspect, it was completely unaware that it was in fact Bin Laden until this was announced by the Americans after the al-Qaeda leader had been shot dead by US Special Forces.
The operation to get Bin Laden was similar to the one that netted Indonesian al-Qaeda operative Umar Patek – the mastermind of the Bali bombings in Indonesia in 2002 that killed more than 200 people – from Abbottabad in late January.
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