Washington: There has been no evidence that Pakistan leadership knew of the presence of Osama bin Laden inside their country, a top Pentagon commander has said citing post-raid analysis of the secret operation that killed the most wanted terrorist of the world.
Navy Adm William McRaven, Commander of US Special Operations Command, said at the Hero’s Summit in Washington that post-raid analysis of the raid indicates that the Pakistan leadership was not aware of his presence. “How could they not know he was there?” he asked. “We have no intelligence that indicates the Pakistanis knew he was there,” he added.
McRaven also said that US leadership decided not to inform the Pakistan about the raid in advance as they believed informing Pakistan about the raid in advance would have put the mission at risk.
Sharing details of the daring raid, McRaven said best commandoes were picked up for this raid to kill Laden. “We hand-picked the guys. They were the best of the best, all across the board. They had extensive combat experience, and consequently I was very confident,” he said.
McRaven said, even while Osama bin Laden is dead, non-state actors continue to pose a threat. “We’ve done a terrific job of taking care of the core of al- Qaeda. But there’s no such thing as a local problem anymore. Everything in the world is connected,” he said.
Responding to questions, McRaven said the US relationship with Pakistan is improving. “We need to kind of put our differences aside because understanding the problems in Pakistan and working with the Pakistanis to deal with their terrorist problems and the terrorist problems that are emanating from Pakistan is crucial for our eventual success,” he said. (PTI)
