No direct link between Pakistan authorities and OBL: Panetta

[fd24]

WASHINGTON: No evidence has been found which directly links the Pakistani authorities and Osama bin Laden’s ability to live and operate within a stone’s throw of one of Pakistan’s most important military installations, US Secretary of Defence Leon Panetta said in an interview with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.

In the interview, the US secretary of defence said that most of the material extracted from the Abbottabad compound – where a unilateral raid was conducted on May 2, 2011 by US Special Forces, killing the al Qaeda leader – had been reviewed and “no direct links” between the Pakistani establishment and Bin Laden were found, the report said.

However, he added: “Well, you know, in these situations sometimes, the leadership within Pakistan is obviously not aware of certain things and yet people lower down in the military establishment know it very well.

They’ve been aware of it. But the bottom line is that we have not had evidence that provides that direct link.”

Panetta said: “Obviously the concern has always been how a compound like this could operate, how Bin Laden could be in an area where there were military installations, where we could see the military operating.

“But I have not heard any kind of evidence that involved a direct connection to the Pakistanis.”

Talking about Pakistan’s troubled relationship with the US, Panetta said in the interview that relations between the two allies were “complex”.

“It’s a complex relationship. It always has been and I suspect it always will be.

“In some ways we share a common concern and a common threat. Terrorism is as much a threat to Pakistan and the people of Pakistan as it is to us and to the people of Afghanistan. And the fact is that they lost an awful lot of lives because of terrorism.”

Appreciating Pakistan’s efforts in the war against terrorism, the US secretary of defence added: “They continue to conduct military operations against the terrorists. So in many ways we have common cause.

“We’ve had ups and downs, but my view is it’s an absolutely essential relationship if we’re going to be able to go after the enemy that we’re concerned about,” he said, adding “you can’t really have peace in Afghanistan until you have peace in Pakistan.”

No direct link between Pakistan authorities and OBL: Panetta – The Express Tribune

 

[VCheng]

.............

However, he added: “Well, you know, in these situations sometimes, the leadership within Pakistan is obviously not aware of certain things and yet people lower down in the military establishment know it very well.

They’ve been aware of it. But the bottom line is that we have not had evidence that provides that direct link.”

Panetta said: “Obviously the concern has always been how a compound like this could operate, how Bin Laden could be in an area where there were military installations, where we could see the military operating.

“But I have not heard any kind of evidence that involved a direct connection to the Pakistanis.”

.................

The parts in bold are very carefully worded, and should be heeded to clearly.

 

[AbhimanyuShrivastav]

Some more text from the transcript to ponder on

Defense.gov News Transcript: CBC Television Interview with Secretary Panetta

SEC. PANETTA: I have not. And you know, there’s been a lot of material. They’ve gone through a lot of material. We haven’t had access to, obviously, all of the analysis that’s been done, but I have not heard any kind of evidence that involved a direct connection to the Pakistanis. Obviously the concern has always been how could a compound like this, how could bin Laden be in an area where there were military establishments, where we could see the military operating and not have them know.

MR. MANSBRIDGE: And how could it? How could it operate there without their knowledge?

SEC. PANETTA: Well, you know, these situations sometimes, you know, the leadership within Pakistan [sic] is obviously not aware of certain things and yet people lower down in the military establishment find it very well, they’ve been aware of it. But bottom line is that we have not had evidence that provides that direct link.

MR. MANSBRIDGE: Are you comfortable with the Pakistan military and intelligence community?

SEC. PANETTA: Well, you know, it’s a complex relationship. It always has been and I suspect it always will be. In some ways we share a common – common concern and a common threat. Terrorism is as much a threat to Pakistan and the people of Pakistan as it is to us and to the people of Afghanistan. And the fact is that they lost an awful lot of lives because of terrorism.

And they continue to conduct military operations against the terrorists. So in many ways we have common cause, but the problem is that they view their position in that part of the world as one that is threatened, threatened by India, threatened by others, threatened by some of the terrorists, threatened by the concern about, you know, how they’re going to be viewed in that region, what kind of position are they going to have for the future.

And as a result of that, sometimes we get very mixed messages from Pakistan as to just exactly where they’re going to be. We’ve had ups and downs, but my view is it’s an absolutely essential relationship if we’re going to be able to, A, go after the enemy that we’re concerned about, and B, frankly, you can’t really have peace in Afghanistan until we’ve been able to ensure that we have peace in Pakistan with regards to the terrorists.

MR. MANSBRIDGE: Now you never told the Pakistanis anything about the raid that was about to take place on bin Laden, for those fears, right? Fears that they wouldn’t keep it a secret?

SEC. PANETTA: The concern we had is that, you know, we had provided intelligence to them with regards to other areas and unfortunately, for one way or another, it got leaked to the individuals we were trying to go after. So as a result of that we were concerned that if we were going to perform a sensitive mission like this, we had to do it on our own.

 

[mr42O]

who cares what they have to say next day they will say some thing else.