Pakistan faced intense scrutiny in Washington Monday after US forces killed Osama bin Laden near Islamabad, but President Barack Obama stopped short of public criticism that could further escalate tensions. US lawmakers demanded to know how the world's most wanted man could have resided - apparently for years - in a comfortable home in
Abbottabad, a hillside retreat close to Islamabad popular with retired Pakistani generals. Pakistan will need to "prove to us that they didn't know that bin Laden was there," said Senator Joe Lieberman, the chair of the Homeland Security Committee, predicting "real pressure" on Islamabad.
Senator Susan Collins, the top Republican on the same committee, called for "more strings attached" to the billions of dollars which the United States offers Pakistan in military assistance. "I think that this tells us once again that, unfortunately, Pakistan at times is playing a double game and that is very troubling to me," she said.
But the Obama administration carefully avoided criticising Pakistan. Announcing bin Laden's death late Sunday, Obama said that "our counter-terrorism co-operation with Pakistan helped lead us to bin Laden." "Going forward, it is essential that Pakistan continue to join us in the fight against al Qaeda and its affiliates," Obama said.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Monday that bin Laden had also "declared war on Pakistan" through violence that has killed civilians. "In Pakistan, we are committed to supporting the people and government as they defend their own democracy from violent extremism," she told reporters.
John Brennan, Obama's top counter-terrorism adviser, said the United States acknowledged differences with Pakistan but said the country has captured or killed more extremists than any others and was "critically important in breaking the back of al Qaeda." Brennan said that the United States would look into Islamabad's role but that Pakistani officials "seemed as surprised as we were initially that bin Laden was holding out in that area." Analysts said the Obama administration saw no advantage in publicly chastising Pakistan as the United States needed to maintain access to the country as its decade-long war in Afghanistan moves to a denouement.
Besides, experts said, the Bin Laden case speaks for itself. "What this does is strengthen the Obama administration's hand in Pakistan," said Lisa Curtis, a senior research fellow at the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think-tank. "It finally puts to rest all the statements that various people have been making in Pakistan that Osama bin Laden was not in Pakistan and that this was all a Western conspiracy theory," she said. "If you see Pakistan digging in its heels and talking about violations of Pakistani sovereignty, I think then you can expect a severe deterioration in relations," she said.