2013-04-16 10:05:26 +02:00

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news
worldnews
al-qaeda
8513920
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# Osama bin Laden dead: angry Pakistan drops intelligence sharing with West
## Pakistan's intelligence services are refusing to share details of suspects
or plots with their American counterparts in protest at the US operation to
kill Osama bin Laden, raising the potential threat of attacks on Western
cities.
![Osama bin Laden's family is a wealthy dynasty with old business links with
Saudi royalty. ][1]
Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan. The US special forces' killing of the al-Qaeda
leader has angered Pakistani intelligence services. Photo: AP
[![Rob Crilly][2]][3]
By [Rob Crilly][4], Islamabad 6:54PM BST 14 May 2011
[Follow Rob Crilly on Twitter][5]
In the past, Pakistani agents have been credited with helping identify targets
for drone strikes and providing data to the CIA on plans being hatched in its
lawless tribal areas.
Now buffeted and embarrassed by being kept in the dark for months as the US
closed in on the al-Qaeda leader's bolthole, little more than 30 miles from
the Pakistani capital Islamabad, agents with the Inter-Services Intelligence
directorate have begun to withhold crucial operational details about militants
on its territory.
At the same time, new details have emerged about **[bin Laden's][6]**
extensive support network inside **[Pakistan][7]**, reaching all the way to
the sprawling port city of Karachi.
The revelations will heap more pressure on to an administration already
accused of helping shelter the world's most wanted man.
_The Sunday Telegraph_ has learned that the ISI, which prides itself on
arresting a series of key terrorists including the 9/11 mastermind Khalid
Sheikh Mohammed, has now broken off relations with the Central Intelligence
Agency.
## Related Articles
* [Britain 'a target for bin Laden terror attacks'][8]
14 May 2011
* [Taliban visited bin Laden hideout][9]
14 May 2011
* [Large pornography stash found in bin Laden compound][10]
13 May 2011
* [Taliban suicide bombers kill 80 in bin Laden revenge attack][11]
13 May 2011
* [Hidden in plain sight][12]
08 May 2011
"They are furious. They handed over telephone intercepts in 2009 that were
crucial in leading to bin Laden's courier - the key breakthrough in the hunt,"
said a source briefed on relations between the two countries.
"Then four months ago they were told there was nothing in it, it was what the
Americans called a 'cold lead'. Since then they have been left out completely
out of the loop."
Senior officials in the US have briefed journalists to say they stopped
sharing information because they feared Islamist sympathisers within Pakistani
security forces would tip-off bin Laden - ruining the best lead they had ever
had.
Lieutenant General Talat Masood, a military analyst, said the stand-off would
raise the threat to American cities and to Nato-led troops from plots hatched
in Pakistan's tribal regions, headquarters of al-Qaeda linked militant groups.
"There are implications for both the US and international forces in
Afghanistan, so the Americans will be very interested in getting the
relationship back on track," he said.
However, politicians in Pakistan are intent on making the US pay for an
apparently unauthorised raid on its soil.
The past fortnight has been deeply embarrassing for Pakistan's previously
admired military and intelligence apparatus.
The generals face tough questions over how the US was able to launch a raid on
its territory without anyone noticing.
They must also explain how the world's most wanted man could live for at least
five years right under their noses, less than a mile from the country's
officer training academy in Abbottabad.
Last week, President Barack Obama said bin Laden had a "support network"
within Pakistan and demanded to know whether government officials or military
officers knew of his presence.
US suspicions of collusion have frozen relations between the two countries,
which were already frosty following the arrest of CIA agent in Lahore earlier
this year after he shot dead two men.
On Friday night, with intelligence officials already suspending intelligence
sharing, Pakistan's parliament also called for a review of the country's
relationship with the US.
During a 10-hour joint session held to debate the American raid, MPs demanded
an independent investigation to replace a planned military inquiry.
And they also unanimously passed a resolution urging a ban on Nato transit
convoys taking supplies from the port of Karachi to Afghanistan unless the US
ends its controversial programme drone attacks.
Politicians who stayed late into the night said the head of the ISI admitted
intelligence failures and said he was prepared to resign if he no longer had
their support, an offer refused by the head of Army.
However, documents recently released by WikiLeaks will only deepen their
embarrassment. Testimony from prisoners held at Guantanamo Bay describes
elements of bin Laden's support network deep inside Pakistan, tasked with
helping the fugitive evade justice, and also describe a meeting between the
Taliban's one-eyed leader Mullah Omar and ISI agents.
Shortly before 9/11, bin Laden began his preparations to elude US reprisals
and begin his life on the run.
Mohammed Ahmad Rabbani, "who had the full trust and confidence of al-Qaeda
leadership" according to leaked detainee files, told interrogators that he ran
a series of al-Qaeda safe houses in Karachi, the economic heart of Pakistan.
About two months before airliners crashed into the World Trade Centre, he was
ordered to procure supplies and construction materials in Karachi and send
them to Afghanistan.
There they were used to extend an existing network of caves and tunnels at
Tora Bora deep into the mountains that separate Afghanistan from Pakistan.
Bin Laden and his lieutenants disappeared into the caves in December 2001 -
the last known sighting before Navy Seals shot him dead two weeks ago - as US
warplanes bombed the area.
Other detainees said bin Laden had lived there with three wives, 25 bodyguards
and dozens more al-Qaeda operatives including his deputy, Ayman al-Zawahiri.
The documents also show further evidence of how ISI operatives liaised with
and senior Taliban figures. In one example, Pakistani intelligence officers
met Mullah Omar, the one-eyed head of the Afghan Taliban, along with other
militia commanders in Quetta, south-western Pakistan.
-
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http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/al-qaeda/8513920/Osama-bin-Laden-
dead-angry-Pakistan-drops-intelligence-sharing-with-West.html
Telegraph
## [Al-Qaeda][6]
* ### [News »][18]
* ### [World News »][19]
* ### [Asia »][20]
* ### [Pakistan »][7]
* ### [Rob Crilly »][3]
In news
[![Mullah Omar, head of the Taliban][21] ][22]
### [Taliban leader reported killed][22]
[![Pakistan naval base attack][23] ][24]
### [Taliban attack Pakistan naval base][24]
[![The killing of Osama bin Laden could be used as legal justification for the
death of Muammar Gaddafi, MPs have been told. ][25] ][26]
### [Bin Laden's posthumous message][26]
[![Osama bin Laden dead: Taliban suicide bombers kill 80 in Pakistan revenge
attack][27] ][28]
### [Witnesses describe bomb aftermath][28]
[![60 Minutes - CBS news][29] ][30]
### [Obama: Pakistan may have known bin Laden whereabouts][30]
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