Pak should decide on issue of conducting joint operations: US

Rezaul H Laskar
Islamabad, May 9 (PTI) Pakistan will have to decide on
the issue of conducting a joint operation with the US against
Taliban and al-Qaeda leaders like Mullah Omar and Ayman
al-Zawahiri if they are found in the country, American
Ambassador to Pakistan Cameron Munter said Monday.
The future of Pakistan-US relations is closely linked
to Islamabad's replies to questions that have been raised by
al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden's presence in Pakistan, Munter
indicated in an interview to Geo News channel.
Asked if the US will take unilateral action or work
with Pakistan if there is actionable intelligence about the
presence of Mullah Omar or al-Zawahiri in the country, Munter
replied, "We are committed to fighting this terrorism. Our
friends in Pakistan are committed to exactly the same thing.
"The decision from Pakistan has to be can we do this
together, can we work together as we should, as we are both
committed to? That's what I'm saying, I think it can happen,"
he said.
Munter was speaking a week after US special forces
gunned down bin Laden in a pre-dawn raid on a compound located
a short distance from the Pakistan Military Academy in the
garrison city of Abbottabad, just 80 kms from Islamabad.
The powerful military's apparent failure to detect bin
Laden's presence in a city that is home to three regiments and
thousands of soldiers has raised awkward and embarrassing
questions for the civilian and military leadership.
Pakistani officials have said they had no prior
information about the "unauthorised unilateral action" by the
US that resulted in bin Laden's death.
While acknowledging the importance of the killing of
the al-Qaeda leader, they have said that the Pakistani
military will respond if there is any similar operation by the
US or any other country, including arch-rival India.
US President Barack Obama, who had acknowledged
Islamabad's intelligence cooperation while announcing bin
Laden's death, has now called on Pakistan to investigate the
support network that was backing the al-Qaeda leader.
Afghan and US officials have for long claimed that
Mullah Omar and al-Zawahiri are present in Pakistan, a charge
denied by Pakistani officials.