Shamefaced Pakistani officials admitted to intelligence "shortcomings" Thursday after Osama Bin Laden was found hiding in plain sight in their country.But officials there warned that any further secret raids would result in "disastrous consequences" for already strained U.S.-Pakistan relations.
Pakistan's leadership insists it had no idea that the world's most wanted terrorist was living in a $1 million compound in Abbottabad, just outside the capital.
The U.S. suspects such a glaring oversight could only have occurred with government help, which led them to conduct Sunday's commando raid without informing Pakistan.
As a result, Pakistan ordered that America's military presence in the country be reduced to "minimum essential" levels.
The U.S. only has 275 declared military personnel in the country, but is widely believed to have a larger clandestine intelligence presence there as well.
While pointing to "shortcomings in developing intelligence" on Bin Laden's whereabouts, Pakistan insists it provided everything it knew to the CIA.
"The CIA did not share further development of intelligence on the case with the ISI \[Pakistan's intelligence service\], contrary to the existing practice between the two services," the army said in a statement.
During the raid, Pakistani fighter jets were closing in on U.S. helicopters, but the strike force escaped just before the planes arrived, officials said.
Pakistan's Foreign Secretary Salman Bashir said two F-16s were immediately scrambled when foreign helicopters were detected over Bin Laden's compound.
The new detail revealed just how close U.S. forces came to a potentially deadly confrontation with the Pakistani military. (Source)
