Pentagon Breaks Silence on Pakistani Role

[steve2470]

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/06/world/asia/06pentagon.html

WASHINGTON — A top Pentagon official said Thursday that Obama administration officials “do not have any definitive evidence at this point” that Pakistan knew that Osama bin Laden was living in a compound in a garrison city only 35 miles from Islamabad, but she said that Pakistan would have to work hard to rebuild relations with the United States Congress.

In the public comments by a Pentagon official on the raid and its aftermath, Michele A. Flournoy, the undersecretary of defense for policy, said that she had “a very candid conversation” with top Pakistani military officials at the Pentagon on Monday during a previously scheduled meeting. She said she had urged them to take clear steps to show Congress that they were committed to fighting terrorism and working with the United States.

As an example, Ms. Flournoy said that Pakistanis should help make sense of whatever the United States learned from the trove of computer files recovered by Navy Seals from bin Laden’s compound.


After Bin Laden’s death was announced, and it became clear that he had been living in a large compound near a military academy for some time, perhaps years, angry members of Congress who are in charge of the billions of dollars in American military aid that flows to Pakistan have issued furious assessments of the Pakistani Army as either incompetent or duplicitous. Continuing aid is certain to come under sharp scrutiny.

[bluesbassman]

1. "Continuing aid is certain to come under sharp scrutiny".

Pardon me if I don't hold my breath waiting for the results of their "scrutiny" :thumbsdown:

[Vehl]

2. A wanted Indonesian terrorist was arrested in Abottabad a few months ago

30 March 2011 Last updated at 06:08 ET

One of Indonesia's top terror suspects, wanted in connection with the 2002 Bali bombing, has been captured in Pakistan(Abottabad!), reports say.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-12900555

on hindsight, this piece of info is interesting

There are no details about where or how the arrest was made, nor what he was doing in Pakistan.

Sidney Jones of the International Crisis Group told the BBC that his arrest could yield important information.

"Umar Patek is critical to understanding the terrorist networks in South East Asia. And because he appears to have been arrested in Pakistan, he's also going to be critical to understanding the networks between South Asia and South East Asia," she said.

more here
Militant’s road ends in Pakistan
http://www.dawn.com/2011/04/15/how-umar-patek-was-captured.html

^^ very interesting read!

^^ This Indonesian terrorist was arrested in Abottobad..only a few months ago. Does anyone want to make a guess as to why he came to that town? especially a supposedly highly secure military town? rather than go to other "terrorist hot spots" in Pakistan?

Questions also remain over his fate, and there are signs he may be caught up in tensions between ISI and the CIA, which have previously cooperated during terror arrests and would like access to him.

Islamabad has said it will not hand Patek over to the CIA and that he will be sent to Indonesia. But officials in Jakarta don’t appear that keen to have him, and have expressed doubts whether they could make charges stick against him for his alleged role in the Bali attacks.

Officials did not say how or why Patek ended up in Abbottabad, but his arrest followed the detention of an alleged Al Qaeda facilitator in the town called Tahir Shehzad, who worked as a clerk at the post office.

^^ seems to me that the officials did not want to say why or how! Cos they could not say that this guy came to meet Osama!!

Its pretty evident, from the information at hand, that the ISI clearly knew that Osama was living there...and Patek must have known too..why else would he come to that town?

[Old and In the Way]

4. Interesting, thanks for posting!

Maybe Pakistan thought the $20BB+ was for creating a terror network so we could spend trillions fighting it.

[Sherman A1]

6. You may very well be onto something

I wouldn't be surprised at anything anymore.

[madmax]

3. Cut off their allowance - now. nt

[lonestarnot]

5. What, 20 bil or so we've given them for what exactly?