US acknowledges Pak doctor's help in Osama capture
29 January, 2012
WASHINGTON: US Defence Secretary Leon Panetta has acknowledged publicly for the first time that a Pakistani doctor provided key information to the US in advance of the Navy SEAL's assault on Osama bin Laden's compound in May last year. In an interview with CBS's '60 Minutes' programme due to be aired on Sunday, Panetta acknowledged that Dr Shakeell Afridi had in fact been working for the US intelligence, collecting DNA to verify the 9/11 mastermind's presence. The doctor has now been arrested and charged with treason by the Pakistani government, he said. "I'm very concerned about what the Pakistanis did with this individual who in fact helped provide intelligence that was very helpful with regards to this operation," Panetta said, according to excerpts of the interview. "He was not in any way treasonous towards Pakistan," the defence secretary said. "Pakistan and the United States have a common cause here against terrorism and for them to take this kind of action against somebody who was helping to go after terrorism, I just think is a real mistake on their part." Panetta said he still believed someone in authority in Pakistan knew where bin Laden was hiding before US forces went in to find him. Intelligence reports found that Pakistani military helicopters had passed over the compound in Abbottabad, according to the interview. The Pentagon chief said this concern contributed to Washington's decision not to give Pakistan advance warning of the impending raid. However, Panetta acknowledged he did not have "hard evidence" that Pakistan knew of the al Qaeda leader's whereabouts. End.
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