Pakistan Army Admits 'Shortcomings' on bin Laden Intel
Pakistan's military on Thursday demanded the U.S. cut its troop presence in the country to a "minimum" as the fallout from the killing of al-Qaida chief Osama bin Laden intensified.
After days of questions in Washington over how bin Laden could find shelter in the town of Abbottabad, army chief of staff General Ashfaq Kayani threatened to "review" cooperation with the U.S. in the event of another similar raid.
Pakistan is a key U.S. ally in the war against Islamist militants in Afghanistan, but the relationship between Washington and Islamabad was tense even before the architect of the September 11, 2001 attacks was gunned down by U.S. commandos early Monday.
In a statement Pakistan's military admitted there had been "shortcomings" in developing intelligence on bin Laden's whereabouts and said an investigation had been ordered.
But it said that Kayani had told army corps commanders "about the decision to reduce the strength of U.S. military personnel in Pakistan to the minimum level", without saying who had made the decision.
Kayani "made it very clear that any similar action violating the sovereignty will warrant a review of military, intelligence cooperation with the U.S.", the statement went on.
The exact number of U.S. military personnel in Pakistan is not known.
The presence of U.S. Special Operations troops was uncovered by a 2010 suicide attack in which three were killed with officials confirming 200 U.S. military personnel were in the country.
Last month the New York Times reported that about 335 American personnel, including CIA officers and Special Operations forces, were being asked to leave Pakistan in the wake of the killing of two men by CIA contractor Raymond Davis.
Kayani's comments came after Pakistan said the notion that its powerful spies work hand in glove with al-Qaida "flies in the face" of the truth.
"It's easy to say that the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) or elements within the government were in cahoots with the al-Qaida," top foreign ministry official Salman Bashir said.
"This is a false hypothesis. This is a false charge. It cannot be validated on any account and it flies in the face of what Pakistanis and in particular the Inter-Services Intelligence has been able to accomplish," he said.
In Washington and beyond there is incredulity that bin Laden could have found shelter under the noses of the military establishment in Abbottabad, a leafy garrison town just two hours' drive from the capital.
Some U.S. lawmakers are demanding a cut to the billions in aid that flow to Pakistan each year, which is meant to shore up both nations' uneasy alliance as U.S.-led forces fight the Taliban in neighbor Afghanistan.
CIA chief Leon Panetta has said Washington kept Islamabad in the dark about the bin Laden raid for fear of the al-Qaida chief being tipped off.
In a country where anti-U.S. sentiment runs deep, there is rampant skepticism about the U.S. version of events, which has been fuelled by the White House's decision not to release gruesome photographs of bin Laden's body.
Citing national security risks, President Barack Obama said Wednesday that the United States should not brandish "trophies" of its victory.
"It is important for us to make sure that very graphic photos of somebody who was shot in the head are not floating around as an incitement to additional violence, as a propaganda tool," Obama told CBS program "60 Minutes".
"That's not who we are. You know, we don't trot out this stuff as trophies," Obama said, arguing that DNA and facial recognition testing had proved beyond doubt that the Saudi-born extremist was dead.
The "very graphic" nature of the scene described by Obama appeared to be shown in photos obtained by the Reuters news agency of three unidentified dead men in the Abbottabad house -- none of whom resembled bin Laden.
Aside from bin Laden, U.S. and Pakistani officials say four people were killed in the raid -- including two brothers who were trusted al-Qaida couriers and one believed to have been a son of bin Laden.
One of bin Laden's children, now in custody along with a Yemeni wife of the slain al-Qaida leader, saw her father shot dead, a Pakistani intelligence official said.
The girl, reported to be 12 years old, "was the one who confirmed to us that Osama was dead and shot and taken away", said the Pakistani official.
Even without photographic proof, hardline religious groups in Pakistan have offered prayers for bin Laden, rather than taking to the streets and insisting he is still alive.
But Jamaat-e-Islami, the country's oldest religious party, gave vent to a widespread sense of national shame that U.S. forces had struck with impunity deep into Pakistani territory.
"It was a clear violation of our sovereignty, it was an act of aggression even if Osama bin Laden was there or not," said Khurshid Ahmed, the party's vice president.
In the most detailed public discussion of the operation yet by the Pakistani government, a top official at the foreign ministry said American helicopters had flown at a low altitude to escape Pakistani radars.
Salman Bashir told reporters it was only when one of them crashed near bin Laden's compound in the town of Abbottabad, that suspicions were roused.
Bin Laden's body was buried at sea off a U.S. warship to prevent any grave on land from becoming a shrine. The Abbottabad villa that served as his lair has instead become a macabre monument for locals and media alike.
Obama was to lay a wreath in memory of the 9/11 victims during a visit Thursday to Ground Zero, where the World Trade Center was toppled by airliners hijacked by al-Qaida operatives.
The White House said he would meet victims' families in private but would not make a speech, in an apparent sign he is wary of his trip being seen as an overtly political affair.
While quietly rejoicing at the elimination of America's most wanted man, the Obama administration has been forced to defend the legality of the raid, after acknowledging that bin Laden was unarmed when he was shot in the head.
U.N. human rights chief Navi Pillay said the United Nations, while condemning terrorism, demanded that anti-terror operations comply with international law.
"I'm still for a full disclosure of the accurate facts" regarding the raid, she told reporters in Oslo.
Source: Agence France Presse
| Copyright © 2012 Naharnet.com. All Rights Reserved. | https://www.naharnet.com/stories/en/6143 |