A mobile phone of Usama bin Laden’s trusted courier recovered in the U.S. raid last month that killed both men in Pakistan contained contacts to a militant group that is a longtime asset of Pakistan’s intelligence agency, The New York Times reported late Thursday.
In a story posted on the Times website, senior American officials and others briefed on the findings said the discovery indicates bin Laden used the group, Harakat-ul-Mujahedeen, as part of his support network inside Pakistan.
It raises questions about whether the group and others helped shelter and support the Al Qaeda leader on behalf of Pakistan’s spy agency.
The officials and analysts told the Times that Pakistan’s intelligence agency had mentored Harakat and allowed it to operate in Pakistan for at least 20 years.
In tracing the calls on the cell phone, U.S. analysts have determined that Harakat commanders had called Pakistani intelligence officials, the senior American officials said. One said they had met. The officials added that the contacts were not necessarily about bin Laden and that there was no “smoking gun” showing that Pakistan’s spy agency had protected bin Laden.
Beyond providing leads about why bin Laden was able to live comfortably for years in Abbottabad, a town dominated by the Pakistani military just 35 miles from the capital city of Islamabad, the discovery also may help shed light on bin Laden’s secret odyssey after he slipped away from U.S. forces in the Tora Bora region of Afghanistan nearly 10 years ago.
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2 Responses
Why do you write “Usama” instead of Osama?
Are you trying to avoid accidentally writing “Obama” – as some have done in the past?
OBAMA: END ALL AID TO PAKISTAN NOW. These low-lifes ARRESTED five Pakistanis who helped the CIA located bin Laden (yemach shemo).
We should be “dan le-kaf yechus” and assume that are Pakistani allies (that is the official government) is totally oblivious to the activities of its military and intelligence service (acting on their own, of course) in working with assorted terrorists (known to the Americans, the Indians and probably the Israelis, and probably Reuters and the Associated Press and most bloggers in the world – but invisible to the Pakistani government). Perhaps the Pakistani government are merely pathetic incompent fools, and are truely horrified when the people down the street launch massive terrorist attacks.