A Major Intelligence Failure

Pakistan is oftenly blamed by international community to support and facilitate the terrorist organizations. Pakistan obviously reject and call it an absolute nonsense and conspiracy theory against Pakistan. Pakistan is blamed for the immense attacks that had been taken place around the world for example 9-11 attacks in US, 26/11 attacks in Mumbai, India. Pakistan has continously negated these allegations and declared them as a complete bull shit and a conspiracy theory against Pakistan. One of allegation of keeping Osama Bin Ladan in Pakistan was also rejected by Pakistan. Osama Bin Ladan was the head of Al-Qaeda and was considered the responsible and master mind behind the 9-11 attacks. America was behind him since 2001 but he hid himself in the mountains of Afghanistan. Due to this the US invaded Afghanistan to catch Osama Bin Ladan. The leader of Taliban at that time was Mulla Umer who rejected the US demand of handing over Osama to the US. Eventually, US launched the war against Afghanistan. US feeded the Afghan government of that time with dollars so they could allow the US forces to Afghanistan territory. US traced Osama for many years but they couldn't find his trace. US always doubted the neighbor country Pakistan for hiding Osama. To overcome their doubt, establishment of US prepared a plan to enter Pakistan territory and launch an operation in the northern part of Pakistan. Actually it was a city named Abbottabad in the province of KPK. A proper plan was prepared in the White House and operation was launched from Afghanistan. So, the operation was launched in the late night. Amal Ahmad Abdul Fattah al-Sadah, a 29-year-old Yemeni woman, sits with her three-year-old child, Hussain, in a second-floor bedroom. Near to her is her husband, Osama bin Laden. About 250km away, at a US airbase in the eastern Afghan city of Jalalabad, the rotor blades of two stealth Black Hawk helicopters begin to turn. The Black Hawks, coated with special radar-evading paint and panels, as well as noise suppression devices, fly low and fast, entering Pakistani airspace in the Khyber tribal area between 11:15pm and 11:30pm. They are closely followed by two other helicopters, mostly likely Chinooks. All four fly along the route of the River Kabul, above Chakdarra to Kala Dhaka, where one touches down, ready to provide refuelling and additional support to the Navy SEALs now en route to their target in Abbottabad. Approximately an hour and ten minutes after leaving Jalalabad, the US helicopters arrive at the compound in Abbottabad’s Nawan Sheher neighbourhood. Navy SEALs rappel down ropes to the street below. Some head towards the residential buildings, while others, including Urdu and Pashto speakers, form a cordon around the compound to keep locals away. In their cramped rooms on the second floor, Bin Laden and Sadah hear what they initially think is the sound of a storm outside. They go to the balcony to see what is happening, but the night of May 1 is a moonless one, and it is pitch dark. In the annexe, meanwhile, Ibrahim al-Kuwaiti, a Pakistani bodyguard and courier for Bin Laden, is asleep with his wife, Maryam, and their children. They are awoken by a loud noise. As he attempts to calm his children, Kuwaiti receives a phone call. He asks if it is his brother, Abrar – also a guard and courier – who lives with his family in the main house. He gets no response. Back in the main building, some of Bin Laden’s family members refuse to leave him, as ordered. His daughter, Mariam, goes out on the balcony with her children to see what is happening outside. Bin Laden reaches for his weapon. That’s when they hear the sound of an explosion – whether it is the helicopter crashing or charges being used to blast through a door is unclear. When the soldiers forced their way in, Khairiyyah another wife of Osama said that one of them “looked as if he had seen a witch!” The women and their rooms were searched, and then led downstairs by the soldiers. The Pakistani security and military response to the raid, according to the Commission, amounted to a “collective failure”. Not only was the country’s airspace compromised without the immediate knowledge of the military, but there was also “a grave dereliction of duty” on the part of the civil security establishment – that is, the police and civilian administration. By this time, it had become clear that a major operation had just taken place. Superior officers in the military were informed, and at about 2:00am, Major-General Ashfaq Nadeem, the Director-General of Military Operations (DGMO) called General Ashfaq Pervez Kayani, Pakistan’s Chief of Army Staff. General Kayani then told the head of PAF to launch a retaliation against the operation. It took another another 45 minutes to take off F16s from the Air base. The Prime Minister Gillani was told around 3-4 am approximately 4 hours after the initial incrusion. The last man who was been told about the operation was the head of state of Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari. This communication gap paid a massive price which resulted in the major National Security failure.