US
broke deal with Osama hit By
Syed Saleem Shahzad
ISLAMABAD - Pakistan's
military and intelligence community was fully
aware of and lent assistance to the United States
mission to get a high-value target in Abbottabad
on May 2. What it did not know was that it was
Osama bin Laden who was in the crosshairs of US
Special Forces, and what angered the top brass
even more was that Washington - in clear breach of
an understanding - claimed sole ownership of the
operation.
Over the years since Pakistan
joined the US in the "war on terror" following the
invasion of Afghanistan in 2001 to oust the
Taliban, the US has conducted numerous covert
operations - apart from unleashing the missiles of
unmanned Predator drones on militant targets -
deep inside Pakistan.
For instance, the
Los Angeles Times reported on July 27, 2008, "On
occasions, US Special Forces teams have been sent into
Pakistan. In 2006, one of the
nation's most elite units, Seal Team 6, raided a
suspected al-Qaeda compound at Damadola [in the
Bajaur Agency of the Federally Administered Tribal
Areas]."
Under this arrangement, the US
would conduct raids against high-value targets and
Pakistan would provide the necessary support, but
Pakistan, for political reasons so that nobody
would question that its sovereignty had been
compromised, would claim responsibility for the
raids.
Following the assassination of Bin
Laden, though, within a few hours US President
Barack Obama in an address to the American nation
said that US Navy Seals had single-handedly
conducted the operation.
The incident over
Raymond Davis, a contractor with the Central
Intelligence Agency, strained the understanding
between Pakistan and the US over covert
operations.
Davis killed two armed men in
Lahore in January and although the US said he was
protected by diplomatic immunity, he was jailed
and charged with murder. He was released in March
after the families of the two killed men were paid
US$2.4 million in blood money. Judges acquitted
him on all charges and Davis immediately departed
Pakistan.
Pakistan then demanded a fresh
agreement with the US that would better serve its
strategic gains; it is already a major recipient
of US aid and arms sales - approximately US$20
billion over the past decade. The Americans in
turn wanted the continued right to undertake
strikes, but specifically against high-value
targets such as Taliban leader Mullah Omar, Bin
Laden, his deputy Dr Ayman al-Zawahiri and a
leading figure in the Taliban resistance,
Sirajuddin Haqqani.
The US sent four
warning letters to the Pakistan army through
diplomatic channels in which it expressed its
reservations on Pakistan's cooperation in finding
high-value sanctuaries. Pakistan responded by
asking for better economic deals and a greater
role in the Afghan end game.
The demands
on both sides were such that international players
were called in to mediate. These included top
Saudi authorities and Prince Karim Aga Khan, the
spiritual leader of the Shi'ite Ismaili community.
They played a pivotal role in fostering a new
strategic agreement of which the Abbottabad
operation was a part. That is, Pakistan was on
board but was kept in the dark over the target
on the explicit understanding that it would
take ownership.
The Saudis included
ex-ambassador to Washington, Prince Bandar bin
Sultan, who had been sidelined for some years
through illness and palace intrigue. He had helped
resolve the Davis case and set the parameters for
joint surgical strikes inside Pakistan against
defiant al-Qaeda and Taliban leaders to pave the
way for an end game in Afghanistan.
In the
first week of April, the White House released a
terror report charging Pakistan with being
hand-in-glove with militants. Soon after, the
director general of the Inter-Services
Intelligence (ISI), Lieutenant General Ahmad Shuja
Pasha, went to the US for a very short visit that
according to the Associated Press centered on
"intelligence cooperation". Security sources
confirmed to Asia Times Online that the new
security arrangement was high on the agenda.
Pasha, instead of returning directly to
Pakistan, stopped over in Paris where he met the
Aga Khan, and then proceeded to Turkey for talks
with Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari, who was
in the country on an official visit, to appraise
him of the new agreement.
In the last week
of April, the US's top man in Afghanistan, General
David Petraeus, met with Pakistan Army chief
General Ashfaq Parvez Kiani and informed him of
the US Navy Seals operation to catch a high-value
target. The deal was done.
Pakistan was
therefore hugely stunned and embarrassed when
Obama made his earth-shattering announcement
taking all the credit for Osama's death.
In an address to parliament on Monday,
Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani said
that unilateral actions such as the US's killing
of Bin Laden ran the risk of serious consequences,
but he reiterated his earlier stance that the US
Special Forces had reached the compound of Bin
Laden in Abbottabad with the help of the ISI.
But White House Press Secretary Jay Carney
made it clear that even if Pakistan asked for one,
it would not receive an apology from the United
States. "We obviously take the statements and
concerns of the Pakistani government seriously,
but we also do not apologize for the action that
we took," Carney said.
Despite this
setback, Asia Times Online contacts say the spat
does not mean the end of operations - they will go
on as agreed, with all credit taken by Pakistan.
"This relationship is too important to
walk away from," Carney said this week.
Head
Office: Unit B, 16/F, Li Dong Building, No. 9 Li Yuen Street East,
Central, Hong Kong Thailand Bureau:
11/13 Petchkasem Road, Hua Hin, Prachuab Kirikhan, Thailand 77110
