US silent on action if Pak found out to be harbouring Osama

Lalit K Jha
Washington, May 9 (PTI) The White House has refrained
from answering in public on consequences on Pakistan if the
American investigations find out that it harboured al-Qaeda
chief Osama bin Laden.
"I don't want to speculate with a hypothetical at this
point. I do want to say something else," White House National
Security Advisor Tom Donilon told the NBC news in an interview
when asked what will be the consequences if the US finds out
that Pakistan harbored bin Laden.
"But hold it right there, that's not hypothetical.
That is the object, the subject, of your investigation into
Pakistan right now," Donilon was asked by the anchor.
"I think that we should find the facts first, right?
That's the first thing I want to say," Donilon responded.
"But will Pakistan be held accountable should, what
President Bush alluded to, that they were harboring a
terrorist. If that proves to be the case, will they be
accountable?" anchor asked again.
"I think that we've indicated that we will act to
protect our interests. With respect to Pakistan, I want to put
it in perspective. It's really important to do this," Donilon
responded.
"We've had differences with Pakistan. There was some
support network in Abbottabad, Pakistan, which supported bin
Laden. We haven't seen evidence that the government knew about
that, but they need to investigate that, and they need to
provide us with intelligence, by the way, from the compound,
that they've gathered, including access to Osama bin Laden's
three wives, whom they have in custody," he said.
"It is important to underscore here that we need to
act in our national interest. We have had difficulties with
Pakistan, as I said, but we've also had to work very closely
with Pakistan in our counter terror efforts. More terrorists
and extremists have been captured and killed in Pakistan than
anyplace else in the world," he observed.
"At this point, I can tell you directly that I've not
seen evidence that would tell us that the political, the
military, or the intelligence leadership had foreknowledge of
bin Laden," he said.
"At this point, I haven't seen evidence that would
indicate they had foreknowledge of this, that's the first
point. The second point, though, is the fact, which you are
alluding to. It's that Osama bin Laden was in this town for
six years, 35 miles away from the capital of Pakistan,
Islamabad, in a town that was known as a military town where
they had an important military academy. This needs to be
investigated," Donilon said.
"The Pakistanis have said they're going to investigate
it. This is a very big issue in Pakistan right now -- how
could this have happened in Pakistan? We need to investigate
it, we need to work with the Pakistanis, and we're pressing
the Pakistanis on this in the intelligence," he said. PTI LKJ