US Representative for Afghanistan, Pakistan,
Marc Grossman (L) shakes hands with Pakistani
Foreign Secretary, Salman Bashir at the foreign
ministry in Islamabad on May 3, 2011.
As the first euphoria about the death of the world's most-dreaded terrorist ebbs, the focus is fast shifting to Pakistan, the country where Osama bin Laden was found and killed. There are contrary claims on whether Pakistan was informed by the US about the operation and questions are also being raised on how much people in Pakistan knew of Osama's whereabouts.
Last week, WikiLeaks had revealed that a US diplomatic dispatch told the Americans that "many" inside Pakistan knew where bin Laden was. The document stated that "In Pakistan, Osama Bin Laden wasn't an invisible man, and many knew his whereabouts in North Waziristan, but whenever security forces attempted a raid on his hideouts, the enemy received warning of their approach from sources in the security forces."
Other documents released by WikiLeaks also seem to indicate that the United States possibly got a clue about bin Laden hiding in Abbottabad three years ago from information gathered by interrogators at Guantánamo Bay, the controversial US detainment facility where terror suspects are lodged.
Cables from 2008 released by WikiLeaks talk about the interrogation of a Libyan, Abu al-Libi, who had apparently been with Bin Laden in Afghanistan. In 2003, Libi was asked to become one of bin Laden's messengers, the document indicates.
The document says, "In July 2003, detainee Libi received a letter from [bin Laden's] designated courier, Maulawi Abd al-Khaliq Jan. The detainee was told to take on the responsibility of collecting donations, organising travel and distributing funds for families in Pakistan...The letter stated the detainee would be the official messenger between [bin Laden] and others in Pakistan...In mid-2003, the detainee moved his family to Abbottabad and worked between Abbottabad and Peshawar."
Abu al-Libi was captured in Pakistan in 2005.