Pakistan Reels Over U.S. Covert Raid on Bin Laden

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Ujala Sehgal 4,192 Views May 14, 2011

In his 60 Minutes interview last week, President Obama stressed that Pakistan was a key "counter-terrorism partner" for the U.S. But this was not the view from Pakistan. After the first retaliative strike by the Taliban since Bin Laden's death claimed 80 lives in Pakistan yesterday, members of Pakistan's parliament gathered for an intense, closed-door meeting where the parliament condemned the United States' secret strike against Bin Laden's compound as a "violation of Pakistan's sovereignty."

Chief among denouncers was agency spy chief, Lt. Gen. Ahmed Shuja Pasha, who had threatened to resign over the embarrassment the Bin Laden affair caused the country, according to the New York Times. Despite the fact that Pakistan is a benefit of U.S. aid, Pasha said that the U.S. had consistently let Pakistan down since the 1960s, "and now they have conducted a sting operation on us." He said the CIA will no longer be allowed to conduct operations in Pakistan without the full knowledge of its own intelligence agency, ISI, reports Reuters.

The Parliament resolved to review the ties with the U.S. "with a view to ensuring Pakistan's national interests were full respected."  Should there be further secret attacks by the U.S. or use of pilotless drone aircrafts, the government would consider cutting crucial U.S. lines of supply for its forces in Afghanistan.

Damage control. Senator John Kerry will be traveling to Pakistan in the coming days. He told reporters that he wanted Pakistan to be a "real" ally in combating militants, but serious questions remained in their relations. While the U.S. never accused Pakistan of knowingly harboring Bin Laden, President Obama said he thought the al-Qaeda leader must have had a support network.

In turn, Pasha told Pakistani that Pakistan should be given more credit for taking down al-Qaeda -- even before the U.S. raid.

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