Obama says bin Laden had 'support network' in Pakistan
By the CNN Wire Staff
May 8, 2011 -- Updated 2028 GMT (0428 HKT)
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State Dept: Awaiting Pakistan's answers
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
* President Obama says Osama bin Laden had a support network within Pakistan
* Pakistani authorities need to investigate how bin Laden hid in their
country, aide says
* Top members of Foreign Relations Committee stress importance of
U.S.-Pakistan ties
* Pakistan's U.S. ambassador says an investigation is underway and "heads
will roll"
Washington (CNN) -- President Barack Obama says Osama bin Laden had a group of
supporters within Pakistan helping to keep the al Qaeda leader secure for
years, despite an American-led international manhunt that extended for nearly a
decade with Islamabad's ostensible support.
Top U.S. officials insist Pakistan remains a critical U.S. ally in the fight
against terrorism, but are demanding answers to troubling about questions bin
Laden's presence in that country over the course of the last six years.
"We think that there had to be some sort of support network for bin Laden
inside of Pakistan," Obama said in a "60 Minutes" interview airing Sunday on
CBS. "But we don't know who or what that support network was."
The president said U.S. officials "don't know whether there might have been
some people inside of government (or) people outside of government, and that's
something that we have to investigate."
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"More importantly," he added, "the Pakistani government has to investigate."
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RELATED TOPICS
* Osama bin Laden
* Barack Obama
* Al Qaeda
* Pakistan
* Terrorism
Pakistani authorities have "indicated they have a profound interest in finding
out what kinds of support networks bin Laden might have had," Obama noted. "But
these are questions that we're not going to be able to answer" immediately
after the raid on bin Laden's compound.
"It's going to take some time for us to be able to exploit the intelligence
that we were able to gather on site," he said.
Pakistani leaders insist they didn't take part in either the establishment or
the maintenance of bin Laden's safe haven, and have promised a full examination
of the circumstances that allowed him spend years in Abbottabad, a city with a
heavy military presence located a mere 30 miles north of the country's capital.
Asked by CNN's Fareed Zakaria whether bin Laden's presence in Pakistan could be
chalked up to "duplicity or incompetence," Pakistan's U.S. ambassador, Husain
Haqqani, said Sunday he couldn't provide an explanation.
"I think the best way to move forward is to wait for the findings of an
internal (investigation) -- a look at the issue," Haqqani said. "I do not think
that speculation is going to solve any problem."
Pakistan's government "did not have a policy of protecting these people," he
asserted during an interview on ABC's "This Week."
Obama's national security adviser, Tom Donilon, told CNN's Candy Crowley he has
not seen any information to indicate Pakistani officials knew bin Laden was
living in Abbottabad.
Part one of Tom Donilon interview Video | Part two Video
But if evidence is discovered that is "highly disturbing, we'll certainly press
that," he said.
Donilon's comments came amid calls in Congress and elsewhere to cut U.S.
financial assistance in Pakistan, which currently receives roughly $1.5 billion
in annual aid.
Last week, CIA Director Leon Panetta -- nominated by Obama to succeed Robert
Gates as defense secretary -- told House members during a closed-door briefing
that Pakistan was "either involved or incompetent," according to two sources in
attendance.
"We'll clearly be working with (Pakistani authorities) to understand how we got
to this point," Donilon said. He stressed, however, that "more terrorists and
extremists have been captured or killed (in Pakistan) than any other place in
the world."
"We need to look at this in a calm and cool way," he said. There is a lot "at
stake in that region."
"Questions are being raised quite aggressively in Pakistan," Donilon later
added on ABC's "This Week." Authorities there "need to do an investigation."
Indiana's Richard Lugar, the top Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations
Committee, told CNN it seems "very logical" that "a lot of people in Pakistan
knew about (bin Laden's) whereabouts."
Sen. Lugar questions what Pakistan knew | Interview Video
But Lugar dismissed calls to cut Pakistan's financial aid. Like Donilon, he
stressed the reality that Pakistan remains a "critical factor in the war
against terror."
Among other things, Lugar highlighted the importance of keeping Islamabad's
nuclear arsenal secure, and out of the hands of Islamic or other extremists.
Sen. John Kerry, D-Massachusetts, the chairman of the committee, expressed
optimism that the uproar over bin Laden's presence in Abbottabad will allow
American and Pakistani leaders to "punch a reset button" in their relationship.
"Hopefully (now) there can be a readjustment," he said on CBS's "Face the
Nation." Kerry noted Pakistan's past assistance in the U.S. fight against
terrorism, including its willingness to allow U.S. predator drone strikes
within its borders.
Former Bush CIA Director Michael Hayden appeared to agree with Kerry's
assessment of the situation created by the raid.
"This may be an opportunity to reboot this relationship with Pakistan, and get
them to be more aggressive in going after these common targets," Hayden said
during an appearance on NBC's "Meet the Press."
"Even if Pakistan was not complicit in providing the safe haven" to bin Laden,
"they certainly fell well short of what it was we thought or perhaps they think
they should be," he said.
Haqqani said on "This Week" that Islamabad would have taken action if any
member of the Pakistani civilian government, military, or intelligence service
knew bin Laden's location.
He conceded there had been a failure on the part of his government, and said an
investigation is already ongoing.
"Heads will roll" once it's completed, Haqqani promised. The investigation
"will lead wherever it will lead."
Pakistan "wants to put to rest any misgivings the world has about our role" in
the fight against terrorism, he said.
As part of that effort, Pakistani Interior Minister Rehman Malik met with a
number of senior Saudi officials over the weekend, including King Abdullah. The
officials discussed, among other things, the changing security situation after
the U.S. raid on bin Laden's compound.
Pakistan's prime minister, Yousuf Raza Gilani, is expected to deliver a new
terrorism-related policy statement Monday as the Pakistani parliament opens a
debate on the U.S. raid.
During his appearance on ABC, Haqqani acknowledged deep social and political
divisions in his country. Pakistan remains a hotbed of anti-U.S. sentiment and
is home to a large number of people with sympathy for bin Laden. "Jihadi
has-beens" are "still alive and kicking," he said.
At the same time, however, he noted the substantial time and resources
Washington has devoted to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan -- countries many
analysts see as less critical fronts in the war against al Qaeda and similar
organizations. He also blasted the U.S. government's willingness to conduct a
raid in Pakistan without Islamabad's awareness or consent.
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"What we are offended by is the violation of our sovereignty," he said.
"America has a selling job to do in Pakistan."
Later, Haqqani told CNN that Washington needs to do more to acknowledge
Pakistan's contributions in the war against al Qaeda and other terrorist
elements.
The United States needs "to show respect ... for what Pakistan has done," he
said. "Pakistan has sacrificed thousands of lives in fighting terrorism."
Haqqani criticized what he characterized as "a strange mood" in Washington.
"Every time something goes wrong with Pakistan, there is open season on
Pakistan," he said.
The relationship between Washington and Islamabad is "based on mutual need," he
said. "Constantly bashing us" doesn't help the situation.
CNN's Samson Desta, Mary Grace Lucas, and Alan Silverleib contributed to this
repo
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