What Pakistan Knew About Bin Laden

The New York Times ^ | March 19,2014 | CARLOTTA GALL

[Hojczyk]

Soon after the Navy SEAL raid on Bin Laden’s house, a Pakistani official told me that the United States had direct evidence that the ISI chief, Lt. Gen. Ahmed Shuja Pasha, knew of Bin Laden’s presence in Abbottabad.

Colleagues at The Times began questioning officials in Washington about which high-ranking officials in Pakistan might also have been aware of Bin Laden’s whereabouts, but everyone suddenly clammed up. It was as if a decision had been made to contain the damage to the relationship between the two governments. “There’s no smoking gun,” officials in the Obama administration began to say.

America’s failure to fully understand and actively confront Pakistan on its support and export of terrorism is one of the primary reasons President Karzai has become so disillusioned with the United States. As American and NATO troops prepare to withdraw from Afghanistan by the end of this year, the Pakistani military and its Taliban proxy forces lie in wait, as much a threat as any that existed in 2001.

When I remember the beleaguered state of Afghanistan in 2001, I marvel at the changes the American intervention has fostered: the rebuilding, the modernity, the bright graduates in every office. Yet after 13 years, more than a trillion dollars spent, 120,000 foreign troops deployed at the height of the war and tens of thousands of lives lost, Afghanistan’s predicament has not changed: It remains a weak state, prey to the ambitions of its neighbors and extremist Islamists. This is perhaps an unpopular opinion, but to pull out now is, undeniably, to leave with the job only half-done.

Meanwhile, the real enemy remains at large.

[Hojczyk]

This is worth a read….it is the New York Times…she sounds like a good reporter…LONG ARTICLE….she spent 12 years in the Afghanistan area

[Former Proud Canadian]

Without reading the article I can tell you what Pakistan knew about OBL.

EVERYTHING.

[crosslink]

Ping, starting the media drum beat that Pakistan is bad. Why this article now? Could it be we need to prepare the country for something. Must start the soap opera with a villain. Maybe they are so bad they have a plane?

Crosslink

[vetvetdoug]

Read the book, Lions of Kandahar by Major Rusty Bradley, and in 2006 the SF captured several Pakistani troops supplying the Taliban in Panjwayi from Pakistan in a convoy of fuel trucks and trucks loaded with thousands of small arms. We had hard evidence then that the Pakistanis were supporting the Taliban.

[maggief]

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/23/magazine/what-pakistan-knew-about-bin-laden.html?_r=0

This article is adapted from “The Wrong Enemy: America in Afghanistan, 2001-2014,” to be published next month by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.

Amazon:
The Wrong Enemy: America in Afghanistan, 2001-2014 by Carlotta Gall (Apr 8, 2014)

[bkopto]

after 13 years, more than a trillion dollars spent, 120,000 foreign troops deployed at the height of the war and tens of thousands of lives lost, Afghanistan’s predicament has not changed:

Islam.

[crosslink]

Thanks, I will watch for more,if none I am wrong and i will be the first to admit. I know the media so lets just see if they have been given their marching orders.

Crosslink

[maggief]

http://www.ndtv.com/article/world/no-reason-to-believe-pakistan-government-knew-about-osama-bin-laden-s-presence-us-497770

Washington: There is no reason to believe that anyone in the highest ranks of the Pakistan government knew about the location of Osama bin Laden, the White House has said.

A day after a major American daily claimed that the top ISI leadership knew about the presence of the al Qaeda leader inside the country, the White House, yesterday, maintained its earlier stance over the issue.

“AS US officials have said, we have no reason to believe that anyone in the highest levels of the government knew about the location of bin Laden. That continues to be true,” White House National Security Council spokesperson Laura Lucas Magnuson told PTI, when asked about the news report.

Ever since bin Laden was killed by the US commandos in a daring operation in 2011, the Obama Administration has maintained that it has got no evidence which indicates that the top Pakistani leadership knew about the presence of the al Qaeda leader in Pakistan.

However, journalist Carlotta Gall in The New York Times, reported that the then ISI chief Ahmed Shuja Pasha knew of Laden’s presence in Pakistan.

http://www.nation.com.pk/international/20-Mar-2014/washington-denied-pakistani-leadership-knew-about-osama-s-whereabouts

(re: Washington denied Pakistani leadership knew about Osama’s ...
The Nation-3 hours ago
... that anyone in the highest ranks of the Pakistan government knew about the ... House National Security Council spokesperson Laura Lucas Magnuson said, ...)

404 error
Page not found.

[crosslink]

Thanks, I am confused, lets see if any of the outlets that the DOD and CIA use have any stories. We know who feeds the nation.

[maggief]

The Nation was the only US source found, but it appears they pulled their report.

The publisher and editor is (liberal) Katrina vanden Heuvel.

[JoeProBono]

[crosslink]

OH I know who she is, her pulling it is fascinating, she may not have got the memo that Pak is bad now LOL

[canuck_conservative]

but to pull out now is, undeniably, to leave with the job only half-done

I know we (NATO) had to go in there post-911 and flush out the Taliban, but honestly, that whole area - Afghanistan and Pakistan - is one dysfunctional mess of hatred.

The Afghan gov't in bed with opium lords, people that criticise our efforts and still help out the Taliban, Pakistan holding us hostage because they control the only land and air supply routes in - the reasons just pile up to cut out losses and get out.

And I say this as someone from a country that has shed real blood for these unappreciative terrorist-sympathisers ....

[montag813]

Don’t forget what an absolute moron Bush was by making Musharraf his BFF, instead of installing a U.S. protectorate in his place in Islamabad, massing troops inside his Western border, and confiscating all of Pakistan’s nukes.

[Zhang Fei]

This report is in line with I’ve been saying for years - that the Pakistani leadership, not jihad financiers from the Gulf states, are responsible for 9/11. Bush avoided tackling Pakistan head-on because it would have meant a war with a country with (1) a population of almost 200m and (2) a sponsor (China) that was also a major power equipped with a nuclear triad. The last couple of times we fought countries bordering China (North Korea, North Vietnam) without China’s consent, we lost 100K dead. A war with Pakistan would have involved higher casualty numbers unless we used nukes liberally.

[SunkenCiv]

> America’s failure to fully understand and actively confront Pakistan on its support and export of terrorism is one of the primary reasons President Karzai has become so disillusioned with the United States. As American and NATO troops prepare to withdraw from Afghanistan by the end of this year, the Pakistani military and its Taliban proxy forces lie in wait, as much a threat as any that existed in 2001.

Karzai flipped to the other side five years ago, iow, putting him on the same side as Zero and the rest of his cadre. NY Slimes / Partisan Media Shills ping.

[GOPJ]

Don’t agree with all she wrote but she’s a smart cookie...

[PghBaldy]

I still wonder how many people know what September 11 means to Pakistan (besides the attacks in 2001). It is a holiday celebrating the father of Pakistan.

[USAF80]

Wow. I never knew that and I worked with Pakistanis for three and a half years.