Osama Bin Laden was killed in Abbottabad, Pakistan

[Blackwater]

picture abhi baki ha mere dost lets see how SCO countries give beg to begger country.first how they alow begger country in SCO

 

[Virendra]

picture abhi baki ha mere dost lets see how SCO countries give beg to begger country.first how they alow begger country in SCO

Why would they admit such a liability among them?

 

[Blackwater]

Why would they admit such a liability among them?

True, it's not sure they will induct a begger and sick pakland in SCO. The only advantage for pak land is its location in Asia.

 

[johnee]

 

[SpArK]

 

[SpArK]

A good satirical piece from Nadeem Parcha, not real news.

Extra! Extra! Mullah Omar arrested in Pakistan​

ISLAMABAD: In a daring raid, Saudi Special Forces arrested renegade Afghan leader, Mullah Omar, from a famous five-star hotel located in one of Pakistan's most popular vacation spots – Bhurban.


The news spread like wildfire and people were seen cursing the Pakistani government for allowing the Americans to undermine Pakistan's sovereignty – again.

However, when it became clear that the raid was not conducted by the Americans but the Saudis, the frowns turned into smiles and many were heard saying, 'Jazzakallah!'

Only minutes after the raid, Pakistan's prime minister and Army Chief appeared on state-owned television and congratulated the nation and thanked the Saudi regime for helping Pakistan in its war against terror.

Interestingly, religious parties like Jamaat-i-Islami, (JI) Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam (JUI) and some banned sectarian organisations, along with Imran Khan's Pakistan Thereek-i-Insaf (PTI) which had originally called a joint press conference to condemn the raid, changed their stance half-way through the conference when told that the raid was by Saudi forces and not the Americans.


Munawar Hussain, JI, chief, was first heard lambasting Pakistan's PPP-led civilian government for letting the country's sovereignty be violated by the Americans, but after a reporter confirmed that the raid was executed by Saudi forces, Munawar turned to Imran Khan and embraced him.

'Mahshallah!' he exclaimed. "Today is a glorious day for our Islamic republic!"


Imran Khan and JUI chief Fazalur Rehman had earlier questioned the real identity of the man arrested from the five-star hotel, saying that even if it was Mullah Omar, we should be ashamed because Omar was a freedom fighter, conducting a liberation war against the Americans.

However, after it became clear that the arrest was made by Saudi forces, both Imran and Fazal then claimed that Mullah Omar was no friend of Pakistan and that he was not even a Muslim.

In a joint statement, JI, JUI and PTI, congratulated the nation and said that they had been saying all along that the Taliban were Pakistan's greatest enemies and should be exterminated.

The statement also said that the PTI and JI will continue to hold sit-ins against American drones which were parachuting evil men like Mullah Omar into Pakistan and violating the sovereignty of the country. For this, the statement suggested, that Ahmad Shah Abdali should be invited to invade Pakistan and defeat the Americans.

When told that Abdali died almost two hundred years ago, PTI and JI termed this to be nothing more than western propaganda.


Imran Khan added, that from now on he should be addressed as Imran of Ghaznavi and that one of Pakistan's most prominent revolutionary and youngest nuclear physicists, Zohair Toru, was building anti-drone missiles.


Toru, who was also present at the conference, confirmed this while licking a lemon flavoured popsicle. He said it was a very hot day and popsicles helped him concentrate.

Meanwhile, a military spokesman also held a press conference to give the media a briefing on the details of the raid.

He said the raid was executed by Saudi Special Forces who came from Saudi military bases in Riyadh.

The helicopters then landed on Margala Hills in Islamabad. On the lush hills, Saudi soldiers disembarked from the copters, got on camels and rode all the way to Bhurban in broad daylight.

They were twice stopped at checkpoints by Pakistani Rangers but were allowed to cross when some Saudi soldiers said something to the rangers in Arabic. It is believed that the Saudis promised the Rangers jobs in Saudi Arabia.


An eyewitness claims the Rangers smiled and waved to the departing camels, cheering 'marhaba, marhaba.'


The camel army reached the five-star hotel in Bhurban at 11:00 am and right away rode their way into the sprawling premises.

The camels were also carrying rocket launchers, sub-machineguns, pistols, grenades and popcorn, all concealed in large 'Dubai Duty Free' shopping bags.


The military spokesman added that although the Pakistan Army had no clue about the raid, there were a dozen or so Pakistani military personnel present at the hotel.

When asked whether these men questioned the camel riders, the spokesman said that they did see the armed camels enter the hotel but the military men were at the time more interested in interrogating a 77-year-old Caucasian male whom they had arrested for smoking in a non-smoking area.


"After the Abbottabad incident, we are keeping a firm eye on Europeans and Americans," the spokesman said.

Even though the white man turned out to be an old Polish tourist, the spokesman praised the military men's vigilance. "Our country's sovereignty is sacred," he added.

According to the Pakistan military, the Saudis then rode their camels into one of the hotel's kitchens and fired teargas shells.

This way they smoked out the chefs and their staff out into the open. From these, a Saudi commander got hold of a one-eyed chef with an untidy beard.

The Saudi commander looked at the chef and compared his face to a photograph he was carrying. He asked: 'Al-Mullah-ul-Omar?' To which the chef was reported to have said: "No, al-chicken jalfrezi. Also make very tasty mutton kebabs."

The commander then asked, 'Al-Afghani?' to which the chef said, "Yes make Afghani tikka too. You want?"

A reporter asked the military spokesman whether the Pakistani military men present at the hotel witnessed the operation. The spokesman answered in affirmative but said they didn't take any action after confirming that Pakistan's sovereignty was not being violated.

The reporter then asked how the military men determined that Pakistan's sovereignty was not being violated. Answering this, the spokesman said that since the camel riders were speaking Arabic there was thus no reason for the military to charge them with violating Pakistan's sovereignty.

This statement made the media men at the press conference very happy and they consequently began applauding and raising emotional slogans praising Islam, ISI and palm trees.

Soon after the announcement that Mullah Omar was arrested by Saudi forces, the country's private TV channels became animated. One famous TV talk-show host actually decided to host his show in a Bedouin tent. Instead of a chair, he sat on a camel wearing a Pakistan Army uniform.

Though most of his guests — that included prominent ex-generals, clergymen and strategic analysts — praised the operation and heaped scorn at Mullah Omar, there was one guest, a small-time journalist, who disagreed with the panelists.

He asked how a wanted man like Mullah Omar was able to live in Pakistan undetected and that too while working as a chef in a famous five-star hotel. He also said that Mullah Omar had also been appearing on various cooking shows as a chef on various food channels.

To this, the host snubbed the journalist telling him that he was asking irrelevant questions.

'But before this operation, everyone was supporting the Taliban and telling us they were fighting a liberation war against the Americans,' the journalist protested.

'No,' said the host, 'it was the civilian government that was in cahoots with the Taliban. It should resign.'

'No,' the journalist replied, 'it was our agencies!'

This made the host angry and he slapped the journalist. He threatened the journalist by saying that he would lodge a case against him in accordance with the Islamic hudood ordinance.

The journalist responded by saying that the Saudis had violated Pakistan's sovereignty. Hearing this, the host slapped the journalist again, saying he will get him booked for blasphemy.

At the end of the show the host and the panelists burned an American flag and sang the Pakistani national anthem in Arabic. Then, after handing over the treacherous journalist to the authorities, they proceeded to Saudi Arabia to perform hajj.


However, they were soon deported by the Saudi regime for violating Saudi sovereignty.





Nadeem F. Paracha is a cultural critic and senior columnist for Dawn Newspaper and Dawn.com.

 

[SpArK]

U.S. interviews bin Laden widows | Reuters

And the US showed the pic of Osama and asked who it is.. and they reportedly said they have no idea.

 

[SpArK]

Exclusive: Pornography found in bin Laden hideout: officials​

(Reuters) - A stash of pornography was found in the hideout of Osama bin Laden by the U.S. commandos who killed him, current and former U.S. officials said on Friday.

The pornography recovered in bin Laden's compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, consists of modern, electronically recorded video and is fairly extensive, according to the officials, who discussed the discovery with Reuters on condition of anonymity.

The officials said they were not yet sure precisely where in the compound the pornography was discovered or who had been viewing it. Specifically, the officials said they did not know if bin Laden himself had acquired or viewed the materials.

Reports from Abbottabad have said that bin Laden's compound was cut off from the Internet or other hard-wired communications networks. It is unclear how compound residents would have acquired the pornography.

But a video released by the Obama administration confiscated from the compound showed bin Laden watching pictures of himself on a TV screen, indicating that the compound was equipped with video playback equipment.

Materials carted away from the compound by the U.S. commandos included digital thumb drives, which U.S. officials believe may have been a principal means by which couriers carried electronic messages to and from the late al Qaeda leader.

Three other U.S. officials familiar with evidence gathered during investigations of other Islamic militants said the discovery of pornography is not uncommon in such cases.


Exclusive: Pornography found in bin Laden hideout: officials | Reuters

 

[bhramos]

Exclusive: Pornography found in bin Laden hideout: officials​

(Reuters) - A stash of pornography was found in the hideout of Osama bin Laden by the U.S. commandos who killed him, current and former U.S. officials said on Friday.

The pornography recovered in bin Laden's compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, consists of modern, electronically recorded video and is fairly extensive, according to the officials, who discussed the discovery with Reuters on condition of anonymity.

The officials said they were not yet sure precisely where in the compound the pornography was discovered or who had been viewing it. Specifically, the officials said they did not know if bin Laden himself had acquired or viewed the materials.

Reports from Abbottabad have said that bin Laden's compound was cut off from the Internet or other hard-wired communications networks. It is unclear how compound residents would have acquired the pornography.

But a video released by the Obama administration confiscated from the compound showed bin Laden watching pictures of himself on a TV screen, indicating that the compound was equipped with video playback equipment.

Materials carted away from the compound by the U.S. commandos included digital thumb drives, which U.S. officials believe may have been a principal means by which couriers carried electronic messages to and from the late al Qaeda leader.

Three other U.S. officials familiar with evidence gathered during investigations of other Islamic militants said the discovery of pornography is not uncommon in such cases.


Exclusive: Pornography found in bin Laden hideout: officials | Reuters

he is a good Play boy, so he may have married 5 wives........

 

[nitesh]

Exclusive: Pornography found in bin Laden hideout: officials​

The campaign has begun to dent his image, but will that be effective? Needs to be seen

 

[AirforcePilot]

Osama Porn Laden

 

[SHASH2K2]

I am sure some details will be out in coming days. I am sure there will be few camels and donkies involved.

 

[SHASH2K2]

Herbal 'Viagra' found in medicine cabinet at bin Laden's Pakistani compound


Osama Bin Laden was taking herbal Viagra when he was living in his Pakistani compound.
The health of the tall, thin terror leader was the subject of much speculation in the last few years.
Some in intelligence circles even believed he was having kidney dialysis treatment.

'Not weak or frail': 54-year-old bin Laden's wife Amal, 29, said he was in fairly good shape

Sexual boost: Avena is a herbal remedy used to increase desire

But now evidence pulled from the medicine cabinet in his hideout, and interviews with his young wife in the Pakistani media, appear to show bin Laden, 54, was not in bad shape.
They also show his fondness for herbal remedies.
NBC News got hold a list of medications found in the Pakistani compound. None are used to treat long-term chronic illness.
There were drugs to treat high blood pressure, ulcers, shingles, nerve pain and common childrens' complaints.
They also found Avena syrup, an extract of wild oats that is marketed as a natural impotence cure.
Aside from its use to increase sexual desire and potency, Avena syrup is also used as an artificial sweetener often used for a sour stomach.
'The caution is, we don't know who used what," said Cynthia Reilly, a pharmacist and director of practice development for the American Society of Health System Pharmacists. 'And we know that in the United States, 40 percent of medication use is off label," meaning it is used to treat conditions for which it has not been approved.
Bin Laden's youngest widow Amal, 29, told Pakistani investigators: 'He was neither weak nor frail.

Cocktail of potions: Some of the mediciations in bin Laden's home. The Avena syrup is in the blue box

'He believed in his own medication.'


According to Pakistan's Dawn newspaper, Amal, a Yemeni national who was only 17 when she wed bin Laden, said he had recovered fully from two kidney surgeries a decade ago.
The Saudis are thought to have hired an assassin to poison Bin Laden in 1999 and the toxin gave him kidney failure.

Heavily guarded: Pakistani police standing guard at the bin Laden compound in Abbottabad

Amal said he was not on dialysis and helped treat himself by eating a lot of watermelons.
She told officials that she and Bin Laden had just gone to bed and had switched off the lights when they heard the first gunshots of the 1am Navy SEALs raid.
Before Bin Laden could reach for his AK-47, the commandos had burst in and shot him, she said.
Amal, who was bin Laden's fifth wife, was shot in the leg in the raid.
She has told investigators that neither she and nor bin Laden left the compound in the last five years, both living like virtual prisoners.

Creepy: bin Laden in one of five videos released by the U.S. Department of Defence on Saturday

​

 

[mayfair]

The campaign has begun to dent his image, but will that be effective? Needs to be seen

Who cares? I am just chuckling at the prospect of a flurry of jokes on "exploding", "shooting", "wild oats", "rabbits", "weed", "three-storey" etc. to flood the net.

 

[sayareakd]

PAF was fool twice by US, first when they attack, killed and taken away OBL to Afghanistan and later when US cross Pakistan to take the body of OBL on their aircraft carrier.

 

[sayareakd]

OBL is quite active in that house he had been in that house since last 5 years and since 9/11 after escape from tora bora he is in pakistan so most of his children were born in pakistan, no doubt he has got Porn on this hard drive.

 

[Blackwater]

PAF was fool twice by US, first when they attack, killed and taken away OBL to Afghanistan and later when US cross Pakistan to take the body of OBL on their aircraft carrier.

foolled thrice, 2 chinook were parked 10 min from abotabad in open field in place called KALA DHAKA as back up from 12 pm till 1.45 am

 

[LETHALFORCE]

Osama bin Laden dead: angry Pakistan drops intelligence sharing with West - Telegraph

Osama bin Laden dead: angry Pakistan drops intelligence sharing with West


Pakistan's intelligence services are refusing to share details of suspects or plots with their American counterparts in protest at the US operation to kill Osama bin Laden, raising the potential threat of attacks on Western cities.

In the past, Pakistani agents have been credited with helping identify targets for drone strikes and providing data to the CIA on plans being hatched in its lawless tribal areas.
Now buffeted and embarrassed by being kept in the dark for months as the US closed in on the al-Qaeda leader's bolthole, little more than 30 miles from the Pakistani capital Islamabad, agents with the Inter-Services Intelligence directorate have begun to withhold crucial operational details about militants on its territory.
At the same time, new details have emerged about bin Laden's extensive support network inside Pakistan, reaching all the way to the sprawling port city of Karachi.
The revelations will heap more pressure on to an administration already accused of helping shelter the world's most wanted man.
The Sunday Telegraph has learned that the ISI, which prides itself on arresting a series of key terrorists including the 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, has now broken off relations with the Central Intelligence Agency.
"They are furious. They handed over telephone intercepts in 2009 that were crucial in leading to bin Laden's courier – the key breakthrough in the hunt," said a source briefed on relations between the two countries.
"Then four months ago they were told there was nothing in it, it was what the Americans called a 'cold lead'. Since then they have been left out completely out of the loop."
Senior officials in the US have briefed journalists to say they stopped sharing information because they feared Islamist sympathisers within Pakistani security forces would tip-off bin Laden – ruining the best lead they had ever had.
Lieutenant General Talat Masood, a military analyst, said the stand-off would raise the threat to American cities and to Nato-led troops from plots hatched in Pakistan's tribal regions, headquarters of al-Qaeda linked militant groups.
"There are implications for both the US and international forces in Afghanistan, so the Americans will be very interested in getting the relationship back on track," he said.
However, politicians in Pakistan are intent on making the US pay for an apparently unauthorised raid on its soil.
The past fortnight has been deeply embarrassing for Pakistan's previously admired military and intelligence apparatus.
The generals face tough questions over how the US was able to launch a raid on its territory without anyone noticing.
They must also explain how the world's most wanted man could live for at least five years right under their noses, less than a mile from the country's officer training academy in Abbottabad.
Last week, President Barack Obama said bin Laden had a "support network" within Pakistan and demanded to know whether government officials or military officers knew of his presence.
US suspicions of collusion have frozen relations between the two countries, which were already frosty following the arrest of CIA agent in Lahore earlier this year after he shot dead two men.
On Friday night, with intelligence officials already suspending intelligence sharing, Pakistan's parliament also called for a review of the country's relationship with the US.
During a 10-hour joint session held to debate the American raid, MPs demanded an independent investigation to replace a planned military inquiry.
And they also unanimously passed a resolution urging a ban on Nato transit convoys taking supplies from the port of Karachi to Afghanistan unless the US ends its controversial programme drone attacks.
Politicians who stayed late into the night said the head of the ISI admitted intelligence failures and said he was prepared to resign if he no longer had their support, an offer refused by the head of Army.
However, documents recently released by WikiLeaks will only deepen their embarrassment. Testimony from prisoners held at Guantanamo Bay describes elements of bin Laden's support network deep inside Pakistan, tasked with helping the fugitive evade justice, and also describe a meeting between the Taliban's one-eyed leader Mullah Omar and ISI agents.
Shortly before 9/11, bin Laden began his preparations to elude US reprisals and begin his life on the run.
Mohammed Ahmad Rabbani, "who had the full trust and confidence of al-Qaeda leadership" according to leaked detainee files, told interrogators that he ran a series of al-Qaeda safe houses in Karachi, the economic heart of Pakistan. About two months before airliners crashed into the World Trade Centre, he was ordered to procure supplies and construction materials in Karachi and send them to Afghanistan.
There they were used to extend an existing network of caves and tunnels at Tora Bora deep into the mountains that separate Afghanistan from Pakistan.
Bin Laden and his lieutenants disappeared into the caves in December 2001 – the last known sighting before Navy Seals shot him dead two weeks ago - as US warplanes bombed the area.
Other detainees said bin Laden had lived there with three wives, 25 bodyguards and dozens more al-Qaeda operatives including his deputy, Ayman al-Zawahiri.
The documents also show further evidence of how ISI operatives liaised with and senior Taliban figures. In one example, Pakistani intelligence officers met Mullah Omar, the one-eyed head of the Afghan Taliban, along with other militia commanders in Quetta, south-western Pakistan.

 

[LETHALFORCE]

Pakistan may cut Nato's Afghan supply line after Osama bin Laden killing | World news | guardian.co.uk

Pakistan may cut Nato's Afghan supply line after Osama bin Laden killing
The security of Nato's main supply line into Afghanistan came under threat on Saturday as Pakistani parliamentarians voted to review all aspects of their relationship with the US amid worsening political fallout from the raid that killed Osama bin Laden.

The unanimous motion was passed in the early hours of Saturday morning at the conclusion of an extraordinary 10-hour parliamentary session when the military's top brass offered apologies and admissions of failure, and the country's spy chief offered to resign.

Condemning the 2 May raid on bin Laden's house in Abbottabad, 35 miles northeast of Islamabad, as a "violation of Pakistan's sovereignty", parliament voted unanimously to review the country's terms of engagement with Washington.

In feisty speeches lawmakers warned against further "unilateral action", including CIA drone strikes, and urged the government to consider cutting the Nato supply line that runs from Karachi to Afghanistan through the Khyber Pass and Balochistan.

Suspicious of Pakistan's failure to capture bin Laden but recognising the importance of the supply line and pursuing other al-Qaida fugitives, the Obama administration is dispatching Senator John Kerry – the "good cop" of US diplomacy with Pakistan – to Islamabad on Sunday.

"We're not trying to find a way to break the relationship apart, we're trying to find a way to build it," he told reporters in Kabul on Saturday.

Kerry arrives in Pakistan at a time of unprecedented criticism of the powerful military. On Friday night top generals were submitted to harsh questioning from parliamentarians during a marathon session that stretched late into the night.

The inter-services intelligence (ISI) chief General Shuja Pasha, one of the most powerful figures in the country, admitted to an "intelligence failure" on Bin Laden, insisting that the ISI had been kept in the "complete dark" by the US over the raid, and tendered his resignation to prime minister Yousaf Raza Gilani. It was not accepted – a sign that the government, led by Asif Ali Zardari, has decided to support the weakened military.

The fragile civilian government is gambling that its pro-army stance will guarantee it a full term in office. "It was politically a very astute move," said Talat Masood, a retired general and political analyst.

Another striking revelation came from the deputy air force chief, who admitted that CIA drones take off from Shamsi airbase in Balochistan province. But he insisted that the drones were unarmed – those carrying missiles came from Afghanistan, he said – and that Shamsi was actually under the authority of the United Arab Emirates, which built the remote airstrip in the 1990s for rich sheikhs on bird-hunting expeditions.

Despite having been technically held in camera, details of the parliamentary session leaked out to the media. One MP told the news website Dawn that the air force chief claimed to have ordered his jet fighters to shoot down US helicopters with Bin Laden's body on board when they were leaving Pakistan, but they were too slow.

Although generally apologetic, in some instances the generals struck back at their critics. When an MP from a religious party attacked Pasha, the spy chief told the mullah that was in no position to talk because he had received funds from Libya and Saudi Arabia.

The parliamentary motion appeared intended to deflect attention from uncomfortable questions about Bin Laden's Pakistan sanctuary onto complaints about US breaches of sovereignty. But the opposition leader, Nawaz Sharif, who was ousted from power in a 1999 military coup, said he was determined to seek greater accountability of army power. "The elected government should formulate foreign policy. A parallel policy or parallel government should not be allowed to work," he told a news conference yesterday.

Deteriorating relations with the US are further complicated by a bitter row between spies on both sides. The fact that the CIA could run such a massive operation to capture Bin Laden had deeply embarrassed the ISI, said Vali Nasr, a former Obama administration advisor. "It's not just a diplomatic embarrassment, it's a counter-espionage failure," he said. "Suddenly the ISI is scared of what the CIA is capable of doing."

In a further sign of cooling relations General Khalid Wynne, chairman of Pakistan's joint chiefs of staff committee, has cancelled a five-day visit to the United States due to start on 22 May.

The US has begun to look to central Asian countries to reduce its reliance on Pakistan for military supplies to Afghanistan. The cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan has already threatened to have his supporters block military trucks passing through Peshawar.

But outside parliament, the gap between political rhetoric and ground realities is as stark as ever in Pakistan. On Friday a CIA drone fired missiles that killed five people in the tribal belt, the fourth such attack since 2 May.

Yesterday the death toll from Friday's Taliban suicide attack on a paramilitary training centre climbed to 89; a Taliban spokesman said the vicious bombing was to avenge the al-Qaida leader's death and warned of more to come.

 

[LETHALFORCE]

http://www.torontosun.com/2011/05/14/pakistan-deceit-from-the-beginning

Pakistan: Deceit from the beginning

As the story of Osama bin Laden unwinds, the bigger story is about Pakistan and what it says about the idiocy of the great western powers since 1945.

States have no morality, and the game they play is layered with duplicity and deceit. The fine art in this ancient game is not to be unduly embarrassed or caught.

The Pakistani ruling elite has been engaged in deceit and duplicity with the connivance of first Britain, and then the United States, since its sordid creation in 1947.

Britain is responsible for two partitions -- British India and the Palestine Mandate-- and their results ever since have held the region in the grip of intractable conflicts with potential to spin out of control, turn nuclear, and have devastating consequences for the rest of the world.

Britain's decision to partition India was born from the worst of motives. There was exhaustion following the Second World War, an overstretched empire that strained the resources and could not be held together indefinitely and, worse, the opportunism to play the last hand of an imperial divide-and-rule stratagem by accepting the claims of those Indian Muslims-- among Britain's most loyal clients -- that Muslims in India deserved a state of their own.

UNEXCEPTIONAL

The Pakistani ruling elite is unexceptional among postcolonial elites of the Arab- Muslim world. It is cynical, deceitful, contemptuous of its own people, and devoted to its narrow interest of holding power as are all ruling elites in Dar-ul (the House) of Islam.

The two exceptions are India and Israel, and both democracies grate upon the thinking and practice of their neighbouring ruling elites. Their success by every standard of measure is a rebuke to the failed and rogue states, mostly Muslim countries, which surround them.

There was no common and shared basis of language or culture among Indian Muslims for the demand of Pakistan. Islam by itself could not over-ride the differences.

And yet, Britain, knowing full well how questionable and unsustainable was the case for Pakistan, went ahead against the views of thoughtful Muslims who warned of the perils in dividing India on the basis of religion.

Margaret Bourke-White, an American photographer-journalist for Life magazine, was located in India during the crucial months before and after the partition.

In 1949 she published a remarkable book, Halfway to Freedom, detailing, as a witness, what transpired.

Bourke-White was one of the few with access to the inner circle of Mohammed Ali Jinnah, the founder of Pakistan. She spoke with his sister, Fatima Jinnah, who confided: "We never expected to get it (Pakistan) so soon."

Bourke-White asked Mohammed Ali Jinnah of his plans for the country, and his expectations of receiving assistance from America.

Jinnah replied: "America needs Pakistan more than Pakistan needs America. Pakistan is the pivot of the world, as we are placed -- the frontier on which the future position of the world revolves." And then, he noted: "Russia is not so very far away."

For Pakistani ruling elite times changed, but not geography. In frontier lands deceit is the currency of profit and betrayal, and Americans obliged, turning Pakistan into a strategic asset in the game that states play.

Osama bin Laden was merely another duplicitous transaction in this game.