Washington:
The Obama Administration's move to seek explanation from Pakistan on the type of support system Al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden enjoyed there has resulted in heightened tensions between the two countries, media reports said.
"Tensions between the American and Pakistani governments intensified sharply on Tuesday as senior Obama administration officials demanded answers to how Osama bin Laden managed to hide in Pakistan, and the Pakistani government issued a defiant statement calling the raid that killed the Al Qaeda leader an unauthorized unilateral action," The New York Times reported.
In its lead story, The Washington Post said that Obama administration officials here and in Islamabad demanded that Pakistan quickly provide answers to specific questions about bin Laden and his years-long residence in a bustling Pakistani city surrounded by military installations.
"In addition to detailed information about the bin Laden compound who owned and built the structure and its security system Pakistani officials were asked in meetings with US military, intelligence and diplomatic interlocutors to provide names of witnesses who can testify about visitors to the compound," the daily said.
How Pakistan responds will determine the future of the long-brittle relationship between the two countries, as well as the endgame in the Afghanistan war, The Post said.
"We look forward to finding out more information about the support network that did allow bin Laden to hide in this compound in a suburb of Islamabad. And we understand that the Pakistanis are investigating that as well," White House Press Secretary Jay Carney told reporters.
The NYT said top Pakistani officials have vehemently denied that Islamabad tried to harbor bin Laden, and American officials said that at this point there was no hard evidence that any Pakistani officials visited the compound in Abbottabad, or had any direct contacts with bin Laden.
"The US-Pakistani relationship has seemed to be spiraling downward for some time. Now, after Obama's announcement of bin Laden's death, it is in serious trouble," said noted Pakistani scholar Shuja Nawaz in an article in the Foreign Affairs magazine.
"Pakistan seems to have helped the United States track down bin Laden's lair, as Obama acknowledged. But it is unclear whether Pakistan was involved in planning the mission that brought US Special Forces on helicopters from Afghanistan to deep within Pakistani territory to kill him," he wrote.