TX Desk
Terminal X Director and Chief Intelligence Analyst Zaki Khalid conducted a one-on-one private discussion with a senior Pakistani intelligence official whose identity is being kept anonymous keeping in view the discretion polices of the forum. Questions and queries were posed which were focused on the incidents related to the US Navy SEAL raid on Abbottabad last year and the recent developments in its context. TX makes it clear that the views expressed by the official may not necessarily reflect those of Pakistan’s intelligence directorate.
ZK: The White House on May 2, 2011 held an emergency press conference in which it was announced that Osama bin Laden was gunned-down at a compound in Abbottabad right near Pakistan Military Academy. How far is this claim true?
Official: Not the least bit. Why would they ‘re-kill’ a man who already passed away years ago.
ZK: So you are saying that Osama was not present in the compound, is that right?
Official: Yes, that is correct.
ZK: Then who did the SEALs kill?
Official: I will not comment on that. Osama was not present in the compound and that is a sufficient answer to our question.
ZK: Where were Pakistan’s jets during the whole aerospace intrusion? Air Headquarters Islamabad has declined o comment on our questions. Would you care to share some news?
Official: They were vigilant as ever.
ZK: Did Pakistani officials gun down one of the Sikorsky choppers?
Official: Yes they did.
ZK: Then surely there must have been some dead bodies from their side as well?
Official: Yes there were. The exact figures cannot be disclosed. More than a dozen is what I can reveal for now.
ZK: Right. Strangely, a few weeks after this incident, other Navy SEALs who took part in this raid got killed in a mysterious crash. Do you see something here?
Official: What can I say? They might have been ‘sacrificed’.
ZK: Notable American officials including Dr. Steve Pieczenik, who was former advisor to Henry Kissinger and Cyrus Vance, has declared in an interview that a General in Paul Wolfowitz’ squad revealed to him years ago that OBL was dead long ago and that his body “was kept on ice to be revealed later on“. Do you agree with his assessment?
Official: To be honest, I have not yet heard or seen such an interview. Our archives record that Osama was last met by Khalid Sheikh Mohammed at Tora Bora after which we atleast, on our part, did not notice his movements. We also strongly feel he was killed by KSM himself.
ZK: And why would he do such a thing?
Official: KSM is a CIA asset.
ZK: America’s Most Wanted is their own asset?
Official: Yes he is. Why are you surprised? Much happens in the intelligence tradecraft. What is apparent can be an illusion and what seems farfetched can turn out to be precise. The real OBL was a very weak man in his later years, medical problems. He required regular dialysis. What if I tell you there were many copies of Osama that were manufactured?
ZK: Sounds very science-fictionistic. We were told this really was the case by another source of ours.
Official: That was the case.
ZK: Do you really believe it is easy to deceive the whole world into believing a lie?
Official: Tell you what, I challenge any court, be it in the US, to pass a verdict verifying claims made by officials at the American military-intelligence establishment. They have no tangible, forensic evidence at all that can prove OBL was killed in Abbottabad. He never came to Pakistan in the second millennium, that’s news for you. The world’s media, including ours, has its corporate interests to protect. Plus, what is announced on Western media giants is taken to be the Divine Truth.
ZK: We told this to our readers last year but your own DG ISPR Maj Gen Athar Abbas said in a National Geographic documentary that OBL was killed. Is this supposed to be incredible then?
Official: He said the right thing. We have a situation here and according to the strategies formulated by the military leadership post-Abbottabad, we had to stay precautious against any confrontational move that could isolate us in the global map.
ZK: What about the wives of Osama bin Laden? What was their role in all this?
Official: No comment.
ZK: What can you share about America’s military agendas in light of recent geopolitical developments?
Official: US officials recently held strategic meetings in Islamabad in which they told Taliban spokespersons that they are willing to give them recognition to which the Afghan Taliban scorned and said it is us, not you, who get to decide your exit.
We have no conditions, just pick up your bags and get out of here as soon as possible. The Obama Administration is doing all this to increase their vote bank as Presidential Elections are fast approaching.
Obama wants to show the world that he held successful negotiations with the Taliban which India also supports. However, talks have failed.
Marc Grossman came to request re-opening of the NATO supply routes. He said that if Obama apologizes over the Salala attack, his votes will considerably decline.Those talks too, failed. Gen. Kayani promptly denied any such request and Grossman had to return in dismay.
ZK: So that means there is no re-opening of NATO supplies?
Official: That is correct. The Afghan Taliban attacked on US and Allied Force bases a few weeks ago to give them a message that signing a ‘strategic partnership’with your own puppet regime at Kabul is, well, ironic. Worthless.
ZK: Can you summarize the Abbottabad raid in one line?
Official: Obama’s publicity stunt.