By IANS,
Islamabad : The US had time and again warned Pakistan that it would take action, with or without Pakistani cooperation, to take out Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, a media report said Monday.
The News quoted sources as saying that Washington had warned Islamabad that if the US had intelligence information regarding Osama, the Americans would act on it.
Osama bin Laden was shot dead May 2 by US commandos who stormed his Abbottabad hideout.
The media report said that in June 2008, an American delegation comprising National Security Adviser of the Bush administration, Steve Hadley, and CIA deputy director Stephen Kappes went to Islamabad.
They told then president Pervez Musharraf and Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani that the US believed some militant groups in Pakistan were harbouring Osama bin Laden.
Pakistan then asked for “actionable intelligence”.
Intelligence officials had then denied any knowledge about Osama bin Laden.
During a trip to Washington a few months later, similar demands were made to Pakistani National Security Adviser Maj General (retd) Mahmood Durrani, who was also told of threats of possible unilateral action.
“Time and again we have warned Pakistan but it seems like your officials live in a dreamland and believe that we need you so much that we will close our eyes and ears to all you do,” a top US official was quoted as saying.
The official stated that the US had warned Pakistan time and again that it would undertake unilateral action against Osama if the US thought Pakistan would not act on its own.