THE US and Pakistan struck a secret deal almost a decade ago permitting a US operation against Osama bin Laden on Pakistani soil similar to last week’s raid that killed the al-Qaeda leader.
The deal was agreed between Pakistan’s military leader Gen Pervez Musharraf and president George Bush after bin Laden escaped US forces in the mountains of Tora Bora in late 2001, according to serving and retired Pakistani and US officials.
Under its terms, Pakistan would allow US forces to conduct a unilateral raid inside its borders in search of bin Laden, his deputy, Ayman al-Zawahiri, and the al-Qaeda No 3. Afterwards, both sides agreed, Pakistan would vociferously protest against the incursion.
“There was an agreement between Bush and Musharraf that if we knew where Osama was, we were going to come and get him,” said a former senior US official with knowledge of counter-terrorism operations. “The Pakistanis would put up a hue and cry, but they wouldn’t stop us.” The deal puts a new complexion on the storm triggered by bin Laden’s death when a team of US Navy Seals assaulted his safe house in the early hours of last Monday. Pakistani officials have insisted they knew nothing of the raid, and Pakistan issued a strong rebuke to the US. If the US conducts another such assault, the prime minister, Yousaf Raza Gilani, told parliament yesterday, “Pakistan reserves the right to retaliate with full force”.
Days earlier, Gen Musharraf, now running an opposition party from exile in London, emerged as one of the most vocal critics of the raid, terming it a “violation of the sovereignty of Pakistan”.
But under the terms of the deal, while Pakistan may not have been informed of the assault, it had agreed to it in principle. A senior Pakistani official said it had been struck under Gen Musharraf and renewed by the army in the “transition to democracy” – a six-month period from February 2008 when Gen Musharraf was still president but a civilian government had been elected.
Referring to the assault on bin Laden’s compound in Abbottabad, the official added: “As far as our American friends are concerned, they have just implemented the agreement.”
The former US official said the Pakistani protests of the past week were the “public face” of the deal. “We knew they would deny this stuff.” The agreement is consistent with Pakistan’s unspoken policy towards CIA drone strikes in the tribal belt, which was revealed by the WikiLeaks US embassy cables last November.
In August 2008 Mr Gilani reportedly told a US official: “I don’t care if they do it, as long as they get the right people. We’ll protest in the national assembly and then ignore it.” As drone strikes have escalated in the tribal belt over the past year, officials issued pro forma denunciations even as it became clear the Pakistani military was co-operating with the covert programme.
The former US official said the impetus for co-operation, much like the bin Laden deal, was driven by the US. “It didn’t come from Musharraf’s desire. On the Predators, we made it very clear to them that if they weren’t going to prosecute these targets, we were, and there was nothing they could do to stop us taking unilateral action. We told them, over and again: ‘We’ll stop the Predators if you take these targets out yourselves’.” Despite several attempts to contact his London office, no comment was available from Gen Musharraf.
Since bin Laden’s death, Pakistan has come under intense US scrutiny and faced accusations that elements within Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI)helped to hide the al-Qaeda leader.
On Sunday, President Barack Obama said bin Laden must have had “some sort of support network” inside Pakistan. “We don’t know whether there might have been some people inside of government, outside of government, and that’s something we have to investigate,” Mr Obama said.
Yesterday, Mr Gilani stood firmly by the ISI, describing it as a “national asset”, and added: “Allegations of complicity or incompetence are absurd. We didn’t invite Osama bin Laden to Pakistan.”
He said the army had launched an investigation into how bin Laden managed to hide inside Pakistan and has called on the military leadership to answer questions before parliament. Addressing criticism from US officials, including Mr Obama, Mr Gilani told parliament it was “disingenuous” to blame Pakistan or accuse its intelligence services of being “in cahoots” with al-Qaeda.
“Allegations of complicity or incompetence are absurd,” he said. “We didn’t invite Osama bin Laden to Pakistan.” He also warned Washington that future unilateral strikes could be met with “full force”.
Mr Gilani also welcomed a forthcoming visit from the US secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, but pointedly paid tribute to help from China, which he described as “a source of inspiration” for Pakistan”.
Meanwhile, the Obama administration is facing a clash with Congress where pressure is building to slash the huge aid budget to Pakistan as punishment for bin Laden’s presence in the country.
Members of Congress are lining up to question continued spending on Pakistan, the third highest recipient of US aid, and threatening retaliation.