New Delhi:
After Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden was killed in Pakistan on Sunday, the tensions are fast escalating between Pakistan and the rest of the world.
The United States today flatly refused to apologise for 'Operation Geronimo' that killed Osama bin Laden.
"We make no apologies about that. He was enemy number one for this country and killed many innocent civilians," White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said.
The already tense US-Pakistan relationship appears to be slowly crumbling after the White House also made it pretty clear that the ISI was not consulted for this specific operation, contradicting Pakistan's claim that their intelligence led them to the most wanted man.
"The Pakistanis have, in general, been very helpful in many ways in the fight against Al-Qaeda... I am not aware and I believe we have said that, we've been quite clear about our knowledge about the existence of this compound and about the communications we did not have with Pakistani intelligence about this operation," said Mr Carney.
In Washington, several US lawmakers have now raised questions about military and economic aid to Islamabad.
Congressman Ted Poe has said he will introduce a legislation to bar all aid to Islamabad till it proved that it had no inkling of bin Laden's whereabouts.
He said, "It seems unimaginable that Osama bin Laden was living 1,000 yards away from a military base in a million dollar mansion built especially for him and no one in the Pakistani government knew about it. I don't buy it."
Another Congressman, Dutch Ruppersberger, said, "Pakistan is more concerned about India than they are about fighting terrorism."
And similar sentiments were echoed by Senator Frank Lautenberg who said, "We don't have that kind of money to spend with people who are not our friends."
In Delhi, the US envoy echoed those concerns.
"It's a matter of concern that Osama bin Laden was found outside Islamabad. We are certainly going to see Capitol Hill take a very hard look at the assistance that we give, and we invest, in security for Pakistan," said Timothy Roemer.
In an interview to NDTV, Pakistan's envoy to Washington, Hussain Haqqani, put on a brave face when asked about the contradiction in saying there was an intelligence failure on Osama on one hand, and yet the ISI led the CIA to the compound.
"If Pakistan had known Osama was there, Pakistan would have acted. We did not know and nor did the Americans for sure. The place was being watched, but it wasn't being watched on account of Osama bin Laden because there was no definiteness about Osama bin being there," Mr Haqqani said.
And so, as many unanswered questions remain about the operation itself, there are also many questions on the future of the US-Pakistan relationship. With its prime terror target now dead, does America need Islamabad as much as it used to?
The United States today flatly refused to apologise for 'Operation Geronimo' that killed Osama bin Laden.
"We make no apologies about that. He was enemy number one for this country and killed many innocent civilians," White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said.
The already tense US-Pakistan relationship appears to be slowly crumbling after the White House also made it pretty clear that the ISI was not consulted for this specific operation, contradicting Pakistan's claim that their intelligence led them to the most wanted man.
"The Pakistanis have, in general, been very helpful in many ways in the fight against Al-Qaeda... I am not aware and I believe we have said that, we've been quite clear about our knowledge about the existence of this compound and about the communications we did not have with Pakistani intelligence about this operation," said Mr Carney.
In Washington, several US lawmakers have now raised questions about military and economic aid to Islamabad.
Congressman Ted Poe has said he will introduce a legislation to bar all aid to Islamabad till it proved that it had no inkling of bin Laden's whereabouts.
He said, "It seems unimaginable that Osama bin Laden was living 1,000 yards away from a military base in a million dollar mansion built especially for him and no one in the Pakistani government knew about it. I don't buy it."
Another Congressman, Dutch Ruppersberger, said, "Pakistan is more concerned about India than they are about fighting terrorism."
And similar sentiments were echoed by Senator Frank Lautenberg who said, "We don't have that kind of money to spend with people who are not our friends."
In Delhi, the US envoy echoed those concerns.
"It's a matter of concern that Osama bin Laden was found outside Islamabad. We are certainly going to see Capitol Hill take a very hard look at the assistance that we give, and we invest, in security for Pakistan," said Timothy Roemer.
In an interview to NDTV, Pakistan's envoy to Washington, Hussain Haqqani, put on a brave face when asked about the contradiction in saying there was an intelligence failure on Osama on one hand, and yet the ISI led the CIA to the compound.
"If Pakistan had known Osama was there, Pakistan would have acted. We did not know and nor did the Americans for sure. The place was being watched, but it wasn't being watched on account of Osama bin Laden because there was no definiteness about Osama bin being there," Mr Haqqani said.
And so, as many unanswered questions remain about the operation itself, there are also many questions on the future of the US-Pakistan relationship. With its prime terror target now dead, does America need Islamabad as much as it used to?
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