Pak kept in dark till last minute on Osama operation

Lalit K Jha
Washington, May 2 (PTI) Pakistan was kept in dark till
the operation to kill Osama bin Laden was successfully
accomplished inside the country close to the capital
Islamabad, the US officials said.
After the four helicopters carrying US special forces
swooped down and killed the world's most wanted man as he was
holed up in a two-storey house, just 100 yards from the
Pakistani Military Academy, US President Barack Obama called
his Pakistani counterpart Asif Ali Zardari to inform him of
the mission accomplished.
"We are very concerned that he (bin Laden) was inside
Pakistan, but this is something that we're going to continue
to work with the Pakistani government on," a senior
administration official said.
The Obama Administration shared intelligence on the
bin Laden operation with no other country, including Pakistan,
sources said.
"That was for one reason and one reason alone: We
believed it was essential to the security of the operation and
our personnel... that only a very small group of people inside
our own government knew of the operation," an official said.
Shortly after the raid, US officials contacted senior
Pakistani leaders to brief them on the intent and the results
of the raid.
But even now, the US officials have not made it clear
from where the helicopters and special forces undertook the
operation.
The United States has also contacted a number of its
close allies and partners throughout the world.
Giving reasons for not contacting Islamabad, officials
said since 9/11, the US has made it clear to Pakistan that the
US would pursue bin Laden wherever he might be.
"Pakistan has long understood that we are at war with
al Qaeda. The United States had a legal and moral obligation
to act on the information it had," the official said.
An operation like this that is conducted has the
utmost operational security attached to it.
"We had shared this information with no other country,
and that a very, very small group of individuals within the
United States government was aware of this. That is for
operational security purposes," the official said.
The official recollected the words of President Obama,
who over a period of several years now, has repeatedly made it
clear that if the US had actionable intelligence about Osama
bin Laden’s whereabouts, it would act.
"So President Obama has been very clear in delivering
that message publicly over a period of years. And that's what
led President Obama to order this operation. When he
determined that the intelligence was actionable and the
intelligence case was sufficient, he gave us high confidence
that bin Laden indeed was at the compound," the official said.
Great care was taken to ensure operational success,
minimize the possibility of non-combatant casualties, and to
adhere to American and international law in carrying out the
mission.
"As the President said, Pakistani cooperation had
assisted in this lead, as we pursued it. So we're continuing
to work this issue right now," the official noted.