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Islamabad, May 3 (IANS) The killing of Al Qaeda founder Osama bin Laden was a “shared achievement”, the US’s special representative to Afghanistan-Pakistan Marc Grossman Tuesday said while the Pakistan foreign secretary asserted his country would “not allow our soil to be used for terrorism”.

“The three countries that are here share a commitment to put end to extremism. The three countries believe that it was a shared achievement,” said Grossman following a trilateral meeting of senior officials from the US, Pakistan and Afghanistan here.

Grossman was referring to the killing of bin Laden by US Special Forces in a fortified compound of a mansion in Abbottabad in the early hours of May 2.

He said the Al Qaeda leader was an enemy of both the US and Pakistan, as thousands of Pakistani civilians and soldiers had died at the hands of terrorists.

When asked about various conspiracy theories surrounding bin Laden’s death, Grossman said: “You can have as many conspiracies as you wish. He’s dead, it’s good. We still have to fight extremism.”

The Pakistani Foreign Office Monday issued a statement that it was entirely a US operation.

Speaking to reporters, Pakistan’s Foreign Secretary Salman Bashir was categorical that he would not go into whether Pakistan government was involved in the US raid that killed bin Laden.

“I think there is no point as far as I can see getting into the forensics of this particular operation. And who did what. That is besides the point,” he said.

US officials said that the Pakistan government was informed about the operation only after all the US security personnel had left the Abbottabad compound.

Bashir asserted that it was now time to look at future cooperation between the three key countries.

“The issue of Osama bin Laden is history. We don’t want to keep ourselves mired in the past. Pakistan has had robust cooperation in counter-terrorism. Pakistan has sacrificed immensely in this campaign against terrorism. It has been our number one priority,” the Pakistani foreign secretary said.

He also said that it was his country’s “determination that we will not allow our soil to be used for terrorism”.

“Terrorism has no faith, no religion, no denomination. Killing of innocent people cannot be justified by anyone,” he added.

Grossman and Bashir were speaking following Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari’s attempt to dispel accusations that his nation was harbouring bin Laden, as concerns were raised in the US to know how the Al Qaida supremo remained undetected in his hideout.

– Indo-Asian News Service
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