In Pursuit of Terrorism

"He was a huge man, hunted by the world. So why would he have chosen to live here, in a military restricted area, so close to the academy and to so many barracks, without a proper security detail of his own?" Neighbour of House 254; Osama bin Laden's Abbottabad compound

"How many times have we heard that Osama has been killed already? At least five. And this time is no different. I can't believe he was here and I don't believe he is dead." Pakistani anti-terrorist commando

It is likely quite true that Pakistan's President, Asif Ali Zardari, as he petulantly claims, had little actual knowledge of Osama bin Laden's residence so close to Islamabad. It is also likely to be more true that Pakistan's infamous secret service, the ISI, and the country's military elite, both of which have long been infiltrated by Taliban and al-Qaeda agents, collaborated on establishing bin Laden and his family in Abbottabad.

The locals, all of whom represented wealthy elite, many of them former high-placed military officers, were well aware that Arab-speaking people comprising an extended family, and choosing to isolate themselves from the community, lived very close to the country's top military academy. The residents of the compound were never seen, apart from two Pashtun brothers.

Those two identified themselves as having come from the North-West Frontier province, an isolated mountainous tribal area. The story bruited about was that they had run afoul of another tribe through a feud that threatened their very lives. The compound they built a stone's throw from the military academy six years earlier represented their escape from tribal retribution.

The gate leading to the compound, set into its four-to-six metre high retaining wall topped with barbed wire, was always closed. Few entered or exited, and they were always authorized to do so. Security was tight, and those existing within the compound lived an extremely secluded life. The story seemed plausible enough to neighbours in a country where tribal vengeance was lethally traditional.

But the military installation would know in minute details everything about every resident in the area. It is not even remotely plausible that they would not be aware of whom the compound sheltered. The former Pakistani high commissioner to Britain and formerly located in Abottabad as a government functionary stated his own disbelief at the government's disclaimer of knowledge.

"I believe it is inconceivable that the authorities in Pakistan did not know about Osama bin Laden's whereabouts in Abottabad. This is not some sort of place you have an outlaw like Osama bin Laden, unless ... through the connivance of the authorities." So put that absurd
disclaimer to rest. Although President Zardari defies the international community's thoughts on Pakistan's complicity.

It is, without doubt, an embarrassment to Pakistan's government. It is also unquestionable that there is more authority residing within the military and the ISI than within the government of Pakistan. In the past President Zardari has been forced to admit that he has not always been made aware of what the military is involved in. In forging peace with India he must first have the assurance of the military that he may proceed.

This is a country whose government has never been able to extend its authority to Waziristan and the NWF provinces. It is also a government and a military that has always fomented problems for Afghanistan, nurturing, training, arming the Taliban, before they had to face a Taliban of their own. Yet Pakistan plays both sides of the fence, claiming to be a partner with the West against global terrorism.

This nuclear-armed Islamic country has confronted its neighbour India time and again over its conflicted position with respect to Kashmir, claiming ownership and coming to the brink of war now and again. Attacks on India, in Kashmir and more recently in Mumbai, were conducted with the active assistance of the Pakistan military in league with Lashkar e Taiba.

"Such baseless speculation may make exciting cable news, but it doesn't reflect fact", stressed President Zardari, in defending his administration from the calumny of the truth; that official Pakistan remains in league with both the Taliban and al-Qaeda. And Pakistan hastens to assure the United States that it is totally innocent of collaboration with the enemy.

Despite the U.S. secret service knowing full well the extent of Pakistan's collaboration. And the billions keep rolling in, courtesy of the U.S. taxpayer, to help Pakistan pay for its costly military. It has become addictive to Pakistan; swear allegiance to the West's need to protect itself from jihadists, and count the billions - roughly $20-billion since 9-11 - that accrue.

Pity a forensic audit couldn't be conducted to trace how much of U.S. taxpayer-funded treasury has been invested in aiding and abetting the Taliban, let alone paying for the bin Laden compound.