Year Later, Bin Laden Killing Still Colors Pakistan-US Ties

One year ago, the most expensive manhunts in history ended when U.S. forces killed Osama bin Laden in Pakistan. The key U.S. raid and the exposure of bin Laden's hideout near Pakistan's premier military academy jolted relations between Washington and Islamabad. Ayaz Gul reports from the Pakistani capital on how the countries are still struggling to maneuver on.

Osama bin Laden's last abode inside the heart of the garrison town of Abbottabad now lies in ruins.

These next-door neighbors recall the fateful night when U.S. Special Forces killed the fugitive al-Qaida leader.

“I was out on my terrace after one of several helicopters crashed and that i saw another one flying over the mansion after which descended swiftly along the fringe. The wind blew ordinarily door of my house.”

After the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan, the al-Qaida chief spent much of his time at the run in Pakistan before moving to what locals called the “Waziristan mansion.” For 5 years, bin Laden, his three wives and their children lived here.    

After months of international interest within the bin Laden home, Pakistani authorities razed the building in February. But former army officer Shaukat Qadir, one of the crucial few investigators given access to the compound, says it is going to be harder to take away bin Laden's ideological legacy.

“Pakistani Taliban has their ties with al-Qaida. We also know that al-Qaida still has lots of following in Punjab, particularly in southern Punjab. So we've got an issue, Pakistanis have a controversy with al-Qaida,” said former military officer Shaukat Qadir.

Critics say Pakistani authorities often blame outside forces for domestic security problems while ignoring pro-military religious groups.

In the months after the U.S. raid, religious groups rallied behind the army, which called the assault a contravention of Pakistan's sovereignty.

In a VOA interview late last year, U.S. Ambassador to Pakistan Cameron Munter defended the operation as a benefit to both countries.

“The attack against bin Laden was not an attack against Pakistan. It was an attack on a typical enemy. And that what we have to do to right any sense of unhappiness at the Pakistani side is to work much more closely together,” said Munter.

Diplomatic talks within the months that followed struggled to regain trust. Relations fell to a brand new low when 24 Pakistani soldiers were killed in a cross-border U.S. airstrike.

Recently there were renewed efforts to fix ties because the U.S. prepares to attract down its forces in Afghanistan.

“I do not believe it'd be the similar the style they were before May 2nd or last year. Nonetheless it must be improved. In the event that they cannot interact, the exit means of Obama, i don't believe that it'll be materialized,” said Asad Munir, a former officer of the Pakistani spy agency.

Analysts say that now that bin Laden is gone, the major security challenges are Pakistani and Afghan groups that idealize the al-Qaida leader as a logo of Muslim resistance to the West.

From WhatNewsToday.net

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