Pak obsession with India led to Osama raid, probe report says

Islamabad, July 10: US Navy SEALs were able to sneak into Pakistan covertly to kill Osama bin Laden because of advanced American stealth technology and the Pakistani military's obsession with India.

The leaked report of the Abbottabad Commission said India remained the focus of Pakistan's military "despite a growing American threat including actual border raids, drone strikes, special operations, the spread of a hostile spy network" among others.

"Given the negative developments in the US-Pakistan relations in recent years, there was no basis to limit defence planning to only one front in the east (with India), while ignoring the border and airspace in the West," it said.

It noted that apart from tensions with the US, there were also differences with Afghanistan and a developing strategic relationship between Afghanistan and India on one hand and between India and the US on the other.

"All this should have been taken into consideration instead of leaving the western borders exposed to the increasingly 'kinetic' and threatening policies of the US which were directed against Pakistan," the report said.

It said that there seemed to be a "defeatist element" in the defence planning of the Pakistan Air Force, especially in the acceptance of the fact that it was "not structured and equipped to fight a two-front war".

It also noted that Defence Policy provided the framework and guidance for the formulation of the Joint Strategic Directive (JSD) which was the "Bible for the armed forces".

"The last JSD was issued in 2007 and specifically stated "India has been and will continue to be the main military threat to Pakistan," the report noted.

The Pakistani Deputy Chief of Air Staff said none of the government departments, civil or military, had ever declared the US or Afghanistan to be a direct threat to Pakistan.

PTI