Thaindian News

New York, May 2 (ANI): The killing of Osama bin Laden deep inside Pakistan in an American operation, seems almost certain to further inflame tensions between the United States and Pakistan and raise suspicion about the role of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI)

According to the New York Times, the presence of Bin Laden in Pakistan is something officials of that country have long dismissed, and goes to the heart of the lack of trust Washington has felt over the last 10 years with this contentious ally.

With Bin Laden’s death, perhaps the central reason for an alliance forged on the ashes of 9/11 has been removed, at a moment when relations between the countries are already at one of their lowest points as their strategic interests diverge over the shape of a post-war Afghanistan.

The circumstance of Bin Laden’s death could jeopardize the flow of US aid, as also deepen suspicions that Pakistan has played a double game.

Bin Laden was not killed in the remote and relatively lawless tribal regions, but in Abbottabad, a city of about 500,000, in a large and highly secured compound that, a resident of the city said, sits virtually adjacent to the grounds of a military academy.

The city hosts numerous Pakistani forces - three different regiments, and a unit of the Army Medical Corps.

According to some reports, the compound and its elaborate walls and security gates may have been built specifically for the Qaeda leader in 2005, hardly an obscure undertaking in a part of the city that the resident described as highly secure.

“The fundamental challenge is how does the West treat Pakistan from now on?” said Amrullah Saleh, the former intelligence director for Afghanistan and a fierce foe of Pakistan.

On Monday, General Kayani, President Asif Ali Zardari of Pakistan, and the ISI chief, Lt. Gen. Ahmad Shuja Pasha, met in Islamabad but did not issue any statement more than six hours after President Obama’s announcement of Bin Laden’s death.

General Kayani appears to be less enthusiastic about the alliance with the United States because he is under pressure from his senior generals, according to Pakistani officials who keep in touch with the military.

About half of the 11 corps commanders, the generals who make up the senior command, have questioned the wisdom of the alliance, according the officials. Some of the younger mid-ranking officers - majors and captains - seem to have more sympathy for the militants than for the idea of fighting them, they said. (ANI)