Pakistan helped US track down bin Laden: FO

FO says baseless allegations about a ‘closed chapter of history’ could seriously undermine cooperation

ISLAMABAD: For the first time, Pakistan on Tuesday publicly acknowledged its role in hunting down al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden, debunking the oft repeated assertions that the country had provided shelter to the world’s most wanted man.

According to an official handout – issued after the acting US ambassador to Islamabad was summoned to the foreign office to protest against US President Donald Trump’s recent statement – it was Pakistan’s intelligence cooperation that provided the ‘initial evidence’ to trace the whereabouts of bin Laden.

This first time public acknowledgment of Pakistan’s role in the tracking down of OBL appears to be a calculated statement to dismiss Trump’s recent allegation that Pakistan harboured the al-Qaeda chief.

The al-Qaeda kingpin who was killed in a covert raid by the US Navy Seal in the garrison city of Abbottabad in May 2011 and the secret operation had raised many questions about the possible role of Pakistan or any of its institutions in the whole saga.

Pakistan always denied complicity and even the Obama administration stated categorically that Islamabad neither harboured nor was aware of OBL’s presence in Abbottabad.

However, President Trump on Sunday ignited the debate once again as he suggested that Pakistan might be aware of the al-Qaeda chief’s whereabouts.

A day after Prime Minister Imran Khan’s strong rejoinder to Trump’s diatribe, US chargé d'affaires (CdA) Paul Jones was summoned by Foreign Secretary Tehmina Janjua to register a formal protest over what she said “unwarranted and unsubstantiated” allegations made against Pakistan.

Conveying her government’s disappointment over Trump’s recent tweets and comments, she told the US envoy that such baseless rhetoric about Pakistan was totally unacceptable.

Rejecting insinuations about OBL, the foreign secretary reminded the US CdA that it was Pakistan’s intelligence cooperation that provided the initial evidence to trace the whereabouts of OBL. She told the CdA that no other country had paid a heavier price than Pakistan in the fight against terrorism.

The US leadership had acknowledged on multiple occasions that Pakistan’s cooperation had helped in decimating the core Al-Qaeda leadership and eradicating the threat of terrorism from the region. The US must not forget that scores of top AQ leaders were killed or captured by active Pakistani cooperation.

She said Pakistan’s continued support to the efforts of international community in Afghanistan through ground, air and sea lines of communication is unquestionably critical to the success of this mission in Afghanistan.

In the wake of recent US pronouncements to seek political settlement in Afghanistan, Pakistan and the US were working in close coordination with other regional stakeholders in order to end the prolonged conflict.



“At this critical juncture, baseless allegations about a closed chapter of history could seriously undermine this vital cooperation,” the Foreign Office quoted Janjua as telling the US envoy.

Meanwhile, army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa on Tuesday also joined other leaders to express his anguish over President Trump’s latest allegations against Pakistan.

“Pakistan has successfully fought against terrorism while also contributing to regional peace. Pakistan has done much more for peace in Afghanistan than any other country,” the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Director General Maj Gen Asif Ghafoor quoted the army chief as saying.”

“We have paid the highest military, economic, political and social cost and the world should acknowledge that. We shall continue to contribute towards peace in Afghanistan but Pakistan’s honour and Pakistan’s security shall always stay premier,” he added.