US national security adviser Tom Donilon has said that the al-Qaeda leader “had some sort of support mechanism” while operating out of Pakistan’s garrison town of Abbottabad for six years.
US national security adviser Tom Donilon has said that al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden “had some sort of support mechanism” while operating out of Pakistan’s garrison town of Abbottabad for six years.
Laden, who had evaded capture for a decade, was killed on May 2 in a top-secret raid involving a small team of US Special Forces on his Abbottabad hideout.
In an interview to CNN, Donilon said he had not seen evidence that Pakistani “leadership elements” had knowledge of Laden’s presence in Pakistan.
"I don’t have any evidence that has been shown to me which indicate that the Pakistani leadership and the political and the military, the intelligence services, had foreknowledge here," Donilon said in the interview.
"But the fact is is that he operated there for an extended period of time, and that raises a lot of questions. And those questions are being asked in Pakistan," he added.
The US Congress has been calling for more information on whether the Pakistani military, government or intelligence services aided Laden while he was in Abbottabad, about 35 miles from the country’s capital of Islamabad, Bloomberg reports.
The issue has contributed to tensions in the already-strained relations between the US and Pakistan.
US intelligence agencies are currently examining computer equipment found at Laden’s lair for leads on additional al-Qaeda figures and their plans.
Citing a Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) assessment, Donilon had said in May that the information cache is about the size of a small college library.
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}