U.S.-Pakistan Agreed to Bin Laden-Style Raids: Report
Anonymous current and former officials from the U.S. and Pakistan are bringing their stories to the public through the UK's Guardian, in which they say the government's leaders struck a deal nearly 10 years ago that gave the United States the right to unilaterally go into Pakistan and get the top three al-Qaeda leaders.
Former U.S. President George Bush and Former Pakistan leader Gen. Pervez Musharraf struck the deal after late 2001 when Osama bin Laden escaped into the Tora Bora mountains which lie between Afghanistan and Pakistan.
The terms of the deal allowed the U.S. to conduct a unilateral raid inside Pakistan to search for Bin Laden, No. 2 Ayman al-Zawahiri, and the third ranking member.
Also as part of the deal, Pakistan would protest the raid, according to the report.
The deal between Bush and Musharraf was if we knew where Osama was, we were going to come and get him, a former senior U.S. official with knowledge of counterterrorism operations said. The Pakistanis would put up a he and cry, but they wouldn't stop us.
A senior Pakistani official said the deal was renewed during a period in 2008 when Pakistan's government was transitioning from military to civilian rule, according to the report.
As far as our American friends are concerned, they have just implemented the agreement, the official said in reference to last week's raid of Bin Laden's northern Pakistan raid.
Pakistani protests were the public face of the deal, the former U.S. official said.
We knew they would deny this stuff, the official said.
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