By Arun Kumar, IANS,
Washington : The United States has asked Pakistan to undertake a “full investigation” of government connections to Osama bin Laden, bluntly telling Islamabad it will make no apology for the raid on the Al Qaeda leader’s hideout.
While the Obama administration understands Pakistan’s “concerns,” President Barack Obama was set on using “whatever means necessary” to kill Osama, White House press secretary Jay Carney told reporters Monday.
A “full investigation” by Islamabad should see if any Pakistanis “had foreknowledge” of Osama’s residence in Abbottabad, just 50 km away from Islamabad, he said.
Asked about Pakistan not making killed Al Qaeda leader’s widows available for the United States to question, Carney said he doesn’t “want to anticipate something … happening.”
But the US relationship with Pakistan is “important” and “complicated” and “this relationship is too important to walk away from,” he said. “There are constant and regular communications between high-level officials … of both governments.”
The White House comments came after Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani told his parliament that Osama’s death was “indeed justice done” but that future US unilateral actions in his country would be met with “full force.”
“We appreciate the support we’ve gotten from Pakistan in the past … in helping us take on the terrorist threat,” Carney said.
“More terrorists have been killed on Pakistani soil because of that cooperation,” he said, adding that there are “consultations with the Pakistani government on many levels.”
He said Pakistan’s “overall assistance” over the years “helped” in the mission to kill Osama bin Laden.
Carney said the Obama administration released videos of Osama to prove that “we got these, procured these at the compound where bin Laden was living, and that we know now what he was up to.”
(Arun Kumar can be contacted at [email protected]