In a fresh damning disclosure, a new book has claimed that the Abbottabad house where Al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden lived was “carved out” from Pakistan Military Academy compound and its powerful Army Chief may have been briefed beforehand on the “kill Osama mission”.
Leading from Behind: The Reluctant President and the advisors Who Decide for Him penned by eminent American journalist Richard Miniter, which has hit the stands, claims that land of the Abbottabad compound, where Bin Laden lived with his family, was “carved out” from the elite military academy compound.
The book also claims that Army Chief Gen, Ashfaq Pervez Kayani may have been briefed by the US on its operation to kill Bin Laden, some five months in advance.
“Pakistan’s Army Chief of Staff may have been briefed in December 2010, five months before the night-time raid on Bin Laden’s concrete castle. Far from taking a risk, there are indications that a cover story had been developed with the Pakistani military and that (Barack) Obama had their tacit consent for the mission,” claims Miniter, a former reporter with The Wall Street Journal and The Washington Post.
Bin Laden was killed by US Navy Seals inside his compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan in May 2011. The book also says a colonel in the Pakistan’s spy agency ISI had provided vital help to the CIA in tracing Bin Laden. “A colonel in Pakistan’s feared intelligence service, the Inter-Services Institute or ISI, provided vital help in locating Bin Laden when he walked into the CIA’s Islamabad station in August 2010,” says the book.
“In a never-before-reported account, Pakistan was more involved in the bin Laden operation than Obama’s team admitted. When the CIA revealed that an ISI colonel had contacted the CIA in Islamabad and offered information about bin Laden, a debate followed,” it says.