The death of Osama bin Laden

The death of Osama bin Laden was a "shared achievement" by the US, Pakistan and Afghanistan, a US official has said.

"All three countries had this commitment to an end to extremism," Marc Grossman, US special representative to Pakistan, told a news conference in Islamabad. "This effort is far from over."
He said the al Qaeda leader was an enemy of both the US and Pakistan, as thousands of Pakistani civilians and soldiers had died at the hands of terrorists.
Asked about various conspiracy theories surrounding bin Laden's death, he said: "You can have as many conspiracies as you wish. He's dead, it's good, we still have to fight extremism."

Pakistan's President Asif Ali Zardari

Salman Bashir, Pakistan's foreign secretary, said the issue of bin Laden was now history.
They were speaking after Pakistan's president moved to dispel accusations that his country was harbouring the terrorist, as the US pledged to find out how he remained undetected in his hideout.
Asif Ali Zardari said it was "baseless speculation" to accuse Pakistan of turning a blind eye to Bin Laden's presence in a heavily fortified villa in Abbottabad, just 60 miles from the capital Islamabad.
In an article in the Washington Post, Mr Zardari denied Pakistan "lacked vitality" in its fight against terrorism and claimed his country was "perhaps the world's greatest victim of terrorism".

fear and disbelief in abbottabad, pakistan

He said: "Some in the US press have suggested that Pakistan lacked vitality in its pursuit of terrorism, or worse yet that we were disingenuous and actually protected the terrorists we claimed to be pursuing.
"Such baseless speculation may make exciting cable news but it doesn't reflect fact.
"Pakistan had as much reason to despise al Qaeda as any nation.
"The war on terrorism is as much Pakistan's war as it is America's."
He said, however, that bin Laden's assassination was not a joint military operation between Pakistan and the US.

Posted in: Current Affairs