Dirty Wars: The World Is a Battlefield

51. “It Was Cold-Blooded”

PAKISTAN, 2011—Three weeks after the raid that killed Osama bin Laden, the leaders of Pakistan’s ISI were still fuming. President Obama and Pakistan’s President Zardari publicly presented a unified front in celebrating the death of the al Qaeda leader, and Obama thanked the Pakistani government for its assistance over the years, saying, “Our counterterrorism cooperation with Pakistan helped lead us to bin Laden and the compound where he was hiding.” Zardari penned an op-ed in the Washington Post, praising the raid and asserting that Pakistan “did its part.” Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gillani declared, “We will not allow our soil to be used against any other country for terrorism and therefore I think it’s a great victory, it’s a success and I congratulate the success of this operation.”

Notwithstanding the diplomatic niceties, however, the violation of Pakistan’s sovereignty was a scandal in the country. “It was cold-blooded,” a senior Pakistani security official said. A day after the raid, Pakistan’s Foreign Office issued a statement calling the raid “an unauthorized unilateral action,” asserting: “Such an event shall not serve as a future precedent for any state, including the United States.”

Pakistan’s former foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi—who was sacked for his bold stance in the Raymond Davis case—called the raid an “unprovoked aggression” against the country, while opposition leader Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan called for the Pakistani president and prime minister to step down. “The operation tramples on our honor and dignity, and the president and prime minister must either give an explanation or resign,” he said. “The government is keeping silent and there appears to be nobody to respond to propaganda against Pakistan.”

“Every Pakistani wants to know how the US troops crossed over into a sovereign and independent Pakistan without permission,” said the Muttahida Qaumi Movement chief, Altaf Hussain. “How was it possible that a raid was conducted well inside Pakistani territory? How was it possible that the raiders managed to leave unhurt and undetected? How come the government and intelligence agencies remained in the dark about all this?”

The Pakistani parliament condemned the operation as a “violation of Pakistan’s sovereignty” and called on Islamabad to “revisit and review its terms of engagement with the United States.” Despite the delicate state of relations between the two governments, some US officials appeared to throw gasoline on the fire. During a press conference after the raid, Brennan charged that it was “inconceivable that bin Laden did not have a support system” in Pakistan.

As a group of 1,500 Pakistanis protested the killing of bin Laden, the United States had resumed its drone strikes. Just four days after the raid, a CIA strike targeted a house in North Waziristan. Coming on the heels of the Raymond Davis saga, the bin Laden raid was seen as an ominous symbol by Pakistan’s intelligence services: Washington was becoming ever bolder in its operations in Pakistan and would strike with or without the ISI’s permission. Obama had made good on his threat to use unilateral force inside Pakistan.

Although the ISI could not do much to strike back at the United States directly, it began a hunt to track down any Pakistanis it believed might have assisted the Americans in the bin Laden operation. Three weeks after the raid, intelligence agents arrested Dr. Shakil Afridi, the doctor who had helped the CIA run the fake Hepatitis B vaccination program in Abbottabad. He was locked up, tried and sentenced to thirty-three years in prison. Secretary of State Clinton and leading US lawmakers pushed for Afridi’s release. Senators John McCain and Carl Levin said the sentence was “shocking and outrageous” and asserted that Afridi was a hero. “Dr. Afridi set an example that we wish others in Pakistan had followed long ago,” the lawmakers wrote in a joint letter. “He should be praised and rewarded for his actions, not punished and slandered.” The Pakistani foreign minister later pushed back. “For us, he’s no hero, believe me,” she said. “He is somebody whose activity has endangered our children.”

The death of Osama bin Laden certainly did not impede the pace of killing in Afghanistan. “Since the killing of the al Qaeda leader, ISAF shows no sign of slowing down or cutting back on its mission. In fact, the pace has been higher than usual the past three months,” boasted an ISAF press release issued just one week after bin Laden was killed. Incursions into Pakistan continued as well. On several occasions, NATO forces based in Afghanistan conducted operations along the border, in one case killing twenty-five Pakistani soldiers. At times, teams of SEALs or members of the CIA’s Special Activities Division would cross into Pakistan to conduct operations. Drone strikes continued unabated. Despite Pakistan’s protests, it was clear that the Obama administration would continue to act unilaterally in Pakistan, even after bin Laden’s death.