Dubai:
Pakistan's former president called the failure by his country's intelligence agencies to uncover Osama bin Laden a "big slip up," but urged Pakistan and America to rebuild trust as the only way to maintain the battle against Al Qaeda.
Speaking from Dubai, Pervez Musharraf, who was president at the time bin Laden is said to have first occupied the house, said Pakistan should hold officials accountable for failing to track bin Laden to the residential compound.
US officials have said Pakistan has questions to answer over bin Laden's location in a house close to an army academy in the garrison town of Abbottabad.
Musharraf has previously insisted that he did not know bin Laden's location during his time in office, but is likely to come under increasing scrutiny in the investigation into the intelligence failures.
"It was a big slip up. It is extremely regrettable," Musharraf said. "We need to find who slipped and take action against those who did not deliver."
Musharraf, an army general who took power in 1999 in a military coup, forged security alliances with Washington after the September 11, 2001, attacks.
He stepped down in 2008 but is considering an election bid to reclaim the presidency in 2013.