Wikileaks reveal Pak tipped Osama whenever US troops were near; ISI protected Qaeda operatives, waged war on US
London/New York/Toronto: US diplomats were told that one of the key reasons why they had failed to find Osama bin Laden for years was that Pakistan's security services tipped him off whenever US troops approached, according to claims made in leaked US government documents obtained by WikiLeaks.
Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) also allegedly smuggled al-Qaeda terrorists through airport security to help them avoid capture and sent a unit into Afghanistan to fight alongside the Taliban, the WikiLeaks cables obtained by Britain's Daily Telegraph show.
The claims, the daily said, will add to questions over Pakistan's capacity to fight the dreaded terror outfit al-Qaeda. In December 2009, the government of Tajikistan warned the US that efforts to catch Osama were being thwarted by corrupt Pakistani spies.
According to a US diplomatic dispatch, General Abdullo Sadulloevich Nazarov, a senior Tajik counter-terrorism official, told the Americans that "many" inside Pakistan knew where Osama was.
The document stated, "In Pakistan, Osama bin Laden wasn't an invisible man, and many knew his whereabouts in North Waziristan, but whenever security forces attempted a raid on his hideouts, the enemy received warning of their approach from sources in the security forces."
Last year, British Prime Minister David Cameron caused a diplomatic furore when he told Pakistan that it could not "look both ways" on terrorism. The Pakistani government issued a strongly-worded rebuttal.
The successful night raid on Osama in the garrison town of Abbottabad, 120 km from Islamabad, late Sunday was carried out without the knowledge of the Pakistan government. In addition, intelligence obtained from prisoners at Guantanamo Bay likely made US officials reluctant to share information with their Pakistani counterparts.
Intelligence gathered from detainees at Guantanamo Bay may also have made the Americans wary of sharing their operational plans with the Pakistani government, the paper said. One detainee, Saber Lal Melma, an Afghan whom the US described as a probable facilitator for al-Qaeda, allegedly worked with the ISI to help members flee Afghanistan after the US bombing began in October 2001.
His US military Guantanamo Bay detainee file, obtained by WikiLeaks and seen by The Daily Telegraph, claims he allegedly passed the al-Qaeda Arabs to Pakistani security forces who then smuggled them across the border into Pakistan.
He was also overheard "bragging about a time when the ISI sent a military unit into Afghanistan, posing as civilians to fight along side the Taliban against US forces", according to the file. "He also allegedly detailed ISI's protection of al-Qaeda members at Pakistan airports. The ISI members diverted al-Qaeda members through unofficial channels to avoid detection from officials in search of terrorists," the file claims.
CIA says telling Pak, like telling Osama
Pakistani officials were kept deliberately out of loop by the US in its operation to get Osama bin Laden as it feared they might "alert" the targets and "jeopardise" the mission, CIA Director Leon Panetta said.
In a clear statement indicating that the US did not trust Pakistan, Panetta told TIME magazine in an interview that the CIA had ruled out participating with the American ally.
Bin Laden was taken out in a secret operation in Abbottabad city yesterday by US special forces who flew in from Afghanistan and Pakistan was told about it only when they had left Pakistani airspace.
"It was decided (during the planning) that any effort to work with the Pakistanis could jeopardise the mission. They might alert the targets," Panetta said.
He said the US had also considered using B-2 bombers for a high-altitude bombing raid or launching a "direct shot" with cruise missiles but these options were ruled out because of the possibility of "too much collateral".
Panetta's hard hitting statement comes as Pakistan is facing many uncomfortable questions over the killing of bin Laden in the heart of Pakistan, in a garrison city.(Source PTI &IANS)
London/New York/Toronto: US diplomats were told that one of the key reasons why they had failed to find Osama bin Laden for years was that Pakistan's security services tipped him off whenever US troops approached, according to claims made in leaked US government documents obtained by WikiLeaks.
Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) also allegedly smuggled al-Qaeda terrorists through airport security to help them avoid capture and sent a unit into Afghanistan to fight alongside the Taliban, the WikiLeaks cables obtained by Britain's Daily Telegraph show.
The claims, the daily said, will add to questions over Pakistan's capacity to fight the dreaded terror outfit al-Qaeda. In December 2009, the government of Tajikistan warned the US that efforts to catch Osama were being thwarted by corrupt Pakistani spies.
According to a US diplomatic dispatch, General Abdullo Sadulloevich Nazarov, a senior Tajik counter-terrorism official, told the Americans that "many" inside Pakistan knew where Osama was.
The document stated, "In Pakistan, Osama bin Laden wasn't an invisible man, and many knew his whereabouts in North Waziristan, but whenever security forces attempted a raid on his hideouts, the enemy received warning of their approach from sources in the security forces."
Last year, British Prime Minister David Cameron caused a diplomatic furore when he told Pakistan that it could not "look both ways" on terrorism. The Pakistani government issued a strongly-worded rebuttal.
The successful night raid on Osama in the garrison town of Abbottabad, 120 km from Islamabad, late Sunday was carried out without the knowledge of the Pakistan government. In addition, intelligence obtained from prisoners at Guantanamo Bay likely made US officials reluctant to share information with their Pakistani counterparts.
Intelligence gathered from detainees at Guantanamo Bay may also have made the Americans wary of sharing their operational plans with the Pakistani government, the paper said. One detainee, Saber Lal Melma, an Afghan whom the US described as a probable facilitator for al-Qaeda, allegedly worked with the ISI to help members flee Afghanistan after the US bombing began in October 2001.
His US military Guantanamo Bay detainee file, obtained by WikiLeaks and seen by The Daily Telegraph, claims he allegedly passed the al-Qaeda Arabs to Pakistani security forces who then smuggled them across the border into Pakistan.
He was also overheard "bragging about a time when the ISI sent a military unit into Afghanistan, posing as civilians to fight along side the Taliban against US forces", according to the file. "He also allegedly detailed ISI's protection of al-Qaeda members at Pakistan airports. The ISI members diverted al-Qaeda members through unofficial channels to avoid detection from officials in search of terrorists," the file claims.
CIA says telling Pak, like telling Osama
Pakistani officials were kept deliberately out of loop by the US in its operation to get Osama bin Laden as it feared they might "alert" the targets and "jeopardise" the mission, CIA Director Leon Panetta said.
In a clear statement indicating that the US did not trust Pakistan, Panetta told TIME magazine in an interview that the CIA had ruled out participating with the American ally.
Bin Laden was taken out in a secret operation in Abbottabad city yesterday by US special forces who flew in from Afghanistan and Pakistan was told about it only when they had left Pakistani airspace.
"It was decided (during the planning) that any effort to work with the Pakistanis could jeopardise the mission. They might alert the targets," Panetta said.
He said the US had also considered using B-2 bombers for a high-altitude bombing raid or launching a "direct shot" with cruise missiles but these options were ruled out because of the possibility of "too much collateral".
Panetta's hard hitting statement comes as Pakistan is facing many uncomfortable questions over the killing of bin Laden in the heart of Pakistan, in a garrison city.(Source PTI &IANS)
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