THE GUARDIAN: Pakistan says raid on Bin Laden's house was 'unauthorised' while CIA director defends decision not to inform IslamabadThe war of words between Pakistan and the US in the wake of Osama bin Laden's killing has intensified, with senior officials on both sides trading barbs that underline their mutual mistrust, and the White House reversing its position on key details of the raid.
In Islamabad the Pakistani foreign ministry issued a hard-worded statement condemning the raid on Bin Laden's house as an "unauthorised unilateral action", and warned that this would not be tolerated in future.
In Washington, the CIA chief, Leon Panetta, said Pakistan was not informed of the assault on Abbottabad, a military garrison town, because US officials feared the al-Qaida leader could have been warned.
"It was decided that any effort to work with the Pakistanis could jeopardise the mission. They might alert the targets," he told Time.
Pakistan's foreign secretary, Salman Bashir, described the American attitude as "disquieting", asserting that Pakistan had played a key role in the fight against Islamist militancy.
"Most of these things that have happened in terms of global anti-terror, Pakistan has played a pivotal role," he said. "So it's a little disquieting when we have comments like this." » | Declan Walsh in Abbottabad | Wednesday, May 04, 2011
