The killing of al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden is a milestone in this nation’s battle against terrorism, but it also raises crucial questions about the U.S. relationship with Pakistan, its so-called ally in the fight against extremism.
It is shocking that bin Laden was holed up in a sizeable town full of Pakistani military, just 35 miles outside the capital city of Islamabad. It is difficult to imagine no one in the Pakistani government or military knew that bin Laden, the man most wanted by American authorities, was living under their noses in relative luxury.
Can this country, which has nuclear arms, be trusted?
The U.S. has given Pakistan more than $1 billion annually during the past decade for counterterrorism operations — the chief focus of which was the death or capture of bin Laden.
Just what has that money been used for? Have Pakistani authorities been playing a dangerous game of deceit?
It is not a coincidence that U.S. officials reportedly did not inform Pakistani leaders of the pending raid before swooping in during the night. Reports vary, but if the Pakistanis got any advance notice, it wasn’t much.
Had the Pakistanis been in on it, there is reason to wonder whether bin Laden would have managed to continue to elude U.S. forces as he has for nearly a decade.
The rumors have long been that bin Laden was hiding in the remote tribal regions of Pakistan where the power of the central government is limited.
That he was in a town of 500,000 people, almost adjacent to the grounds of a military academy, is highly suspicious. This revelation comes on the heels of other events that have increasingly strained U.S.-Pakistan relations.
Most of the conflict centers on the U.S. intelligence presence in Pakistan and intensely unpopular U.S. drone strikes that have killed civilians. That tension reached new heights in January when a CIA contractor, who said he was being robbed, shot and killed two Pakistanis in the streets of Lahore in broad daylight. The contractor, Raymond Davis, was jailed for six weeks before being freed.
In the coming days and weeks, pointed questions will be directed at Pakistan and its security agency, Inter-Services Intelligence, which has long been accused of supporting terrorists.
Is Pakistan a safe haven for militants as Pakistani officials hedge their bets by supporting opposing interests in the war on terror?
The answers that emerge in the coming days and months to that question and others will shape the relationship the U.S. has with Pakistan. Either mistrust between the countries will escalate or Pakistan will become a better ally in the war on terrorism.
That could emerge as the real turning point in the wake of bin Laden’s death, and make no mistake, it’s an important one.
