Obama was willing to risk military confrontation with Pak

Lalit K Jha
Washington, May 10 (PTI) US President Barack Obama was
willing to risk a military confrontation with Pakistan in the
covert operation to capture or kill Osama bin Laden and had
insisted that the special US assault force be large enough
to fight its way out if engaged.
Revealing additional details about planning for the
dramatic Abbottabad mission on May 1, senior Obama
Administration officials were quoted by New York Times as
saying the President did not want to take anything to chance.
The President had authorized Navy SEAL commandos to
engage any hostile Pakistani police or forces if confronted
while carrying out the operation, the US daily said.
The daily also reported that two teams of specialists
were on standby: One to bury bin Laden if he was killed, and a
second composed of lawyers, interrogators and translators in
case he was captured alive. That team was set to meet aboard a
Navy ship, most likely the aircraft carrier Carl Vinson in the
North Arabian Sea.
Obama’s decision to increase the size of the force
sent into Pakistan shows that he was willing to risk a
military confrontation with a close ally in order to capture
or kill the leader of al-Qaeda, the US daily said.
"Such a fight would have set off an even larger breach
with the Pakistanis than has taken place since officials in
Islamabad learned that helicopters filled with members of a
Navy Seals team had flown undetected into one of their cities,
and burst into a compound where bin Laden was hiding," it
said.
"Their instructions were to avoid any confrontation if
at all possible. But if they had to return fire to get out,
they were authorized to do it," a senior Obama Administration
official was quoted as saying.
As against the wishes of some of his advisors,
President Obama insisted to increase the size of his combat
team so as that they would be able to successfully handle the
Pakistani forces if confronted during the mission, the daily
reported.
Pakistan has already said it had scrambled its jets
and forces to tackle the foreign forces at Abbottabad, but the
US Special Forces left the compound after successfully
carrying out the operation in about 40 minutes.
The New York Times also said that the planning also
illustrated how little the administration trusted the
Pakistanis as they set up their operation. "They also rejected
a proposal to bring the Pakistanis in on the mission."
While two helicopters were sent to Abbottabad, under
the original plan, two assault helicopters were going to stay
on the Afghanistan side of the border waiting for a call if
they were needed. But the aircraft would have been about 90
minutes away from the bin Laden compound, it said.
"Some people may have assumed we could talk our way
out of a jam, but given our difficult relationship with
Pakistan right now, the president did not want to leave
anything to chance," one senior administration official was
quoted as saying.
"He wanted extra forces if they were necessary," the
official added.