US-Pakistan Ties in Test after bin Laden's Death

Some US lawmakers are now questioning the fitness and legitimacy of Pakistan's counterterrorism ability.

But as CRI's Su Yi reports, at the same time, Pakistani officials and some locals in Abbotabad are unhappy that they have been kept in dark about the raid which killed Osama Bin Laden.

On the streets of Pakistan's second largest city Karachi, youth organizations chanting "Obama, solve your own problems. Leave us alone" have rallied, angry US troops crossed into Pakistan to raid bin Laden's compound.

At the same time, the Pakistani foreign ministry has expressed its "deep concerns and reservations" about the US action, saying unilateral action should not become the norm.

CIA Chief Leon Panetta has told Time magazine that Pakistan could have undermined the raid.

He says that's why they kept its ally in the dark deliberately.

Bin Laden's presence in Pakistan is now raising many questions over whether Pakistan was either too incompetent, or just unwilling to help locate Bin Laden, given that the compound is just a few hundred meters from the Pakistan Military Academy - the country's equivalent of West Point.

Pakistan's intelligence agency, the ISI, says it is embarrassed by its failures on Bin Laden, though Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari says this is not a failure.

Retired Brigadier General Asad Munir, a former ISI chief, is defending his agency. He says he believes the town of Abbottabad was an ideal place to hide.

"First of all Abbottabad is not a military town. They are not concerned about the outside world. This is not a normal garrison. There is no fighting force, there is no corps headquarter, there is no divisional headquarter, there is no infantry, artillery, no fighting arm."

Munir also says he doesn't believe Bin Laden was living in the compound for more than 15 days.

Retired General Hamid Gul, who also ran the ISI for a number of years, blames the CIA for wrong-footing Pakistan in the hunt for Osama bin Laden.

"All along, the CIA was pointing their finger to the tribal areas. So naturally the focus of all intelligence apparatus in Pakistan was also directed in that area … So there it means they were putting the ISI in the wrong position, whether deliberately or by default, that's a different matter."

A number of observers in the United States are now openly questioning whether the Pakistani authorities helped the al Qaeda leader elude capture.

President Zardari says -- quote -- "such baseless speculation ... doesn't reflect fact."

Some U.S. lawmakers are also calling for a halt of aid to Pakistan, which stands at about 20 billion U.S. dollars a year.
However, one U.S. State Department official has made clear that the US will continue its assistance Pakistan.

U.S.-Pakistani ties had already been frayed even before the discovery of Bin Laden in the country.

The Pakistani side has been frustrated with the continuing U.S. drone attacks on militants on Pakistan's border with Afghanistan.

The American side was also displeased with Pakistan's six-week imprisonment of a CIA contractor who killed two Pakistanis.

For CRI, I'm Su Yi.