Islamabad, May 3 (IANS) Using terrorism as an instrument of state policy has imposed high costs on Pakistan, which continues to struggle with a deep economic crisis and is currently on its 23rd bailout package from the International Monetary Fund, according to a recent report.
More than a decade after the Abbottabad raid, in which Osama bin Laden was killed, the legacy of the operation continues to shape global perceptions of counter-terrorism efforts and raises lingering questions about how the world's most wanted terrorist remained hidden in plain sight.
According to a report published in The Australia Today, titled 'Abbottabad raid 15 years on: The night Osama bin Laden was found in Pakistan's shadow', investigations by multiple governments and international agencies over the past two decades have linked Pakistan-based or Pakistan-trained groups to several major terror incidents worldwide following the 9/11 attacks.
These include the 2005 London bombings, the 2008 Mumbai attacks, the 2006 transatlantic aircraft plot, the 2013 Westgate mall attack in Kenya, the 2019 Pulwama attack, the 2010 Times Square bombing attempt, and the 2025 Pahalgam attack, among others.
"But using terrorism as an instrument of state policy has come with its costs for Pakistan. The country is grappling with a severe economic crisis and is on its 23rd IMF bailout package. The situation is so dire that Pakistan had to again borrow money from Saudi Arabia (US$3 billion) to return a loan of around US$3.5 billion to the UAE," the report stated.
It further notes that observers believe recent improvements in ties with Washington, reportedly linked to cryptocurrency-related engagements with US President Donald Trump's family as well as what it described as "cringe-worthy flattery", may have offered temporary relief. However, the report cautions that without a decisive break from terror networks, Pakistan risks remaining a "borderline failed state" and facing continued instability.
The report also highlights internal security challenges confronting Pakistan, including insurgencies in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and the long-running Baloch movement. Political instability has further deepened following the imprisonment of former Prime Minister Imran Khan and a broader crackdown on opposition leaders.
"It is a de facto military dictatorship being run by its military head Gen Asim Munir, although senior political figure Shehbaz Sharif is the Prime Minister," the report states.
The decade-long search for bin Laden ended in May 2011 after extensive intelligence work led by the Central Intelligence Agency. Following the September 11 attacks in 2001, US intelligence agencies intensified efforts to locate the al-Qaeda chief. A breakthrough came when investigators tracked a trusted courier to a compound in Abbottabad, located about 35 miles north of Islamabad.
"The discovery of bin Laden in Abbottabad -- widely known as a Pakistani military garrison town -- confirmed long-running suspicions within geo-political experts about whether elements within Pakistan had knowingly or unknowingly allowed him to remain hidden there. Although even many of the fiercest critics of Pakistan's security establishment found it difficult to believe that it could have been so incompetent as to not know that the world's most wanted man was living next door to an army cantonment in a house that could pass for a fortress," the report notes.
According to the report, the United States had extended billions of dollars in aid to Pakistan for counter-terrorism cooperation despite longstanding allegations linking the country to groups such as Lashkar-e-Taiba, Jaish-e-Mohammed, al-Qaeda and the Taliban.
It adds that while suspicions about bin Laden's presence in Pakistan had persisted among analysts, his discovery in a military cantonment area less than a kilometre from a major army academy triggered serious global concerns and was seen as a major geopolitical breach.
"It is well known among many security analysts that Pakistan took money from the West as it was supposedly an ally in the 'war on terror', but then gave money to terrorists to murder innocent Afghans and Western soldiers. 'We fooled them', said the former chief of Pakistan's intelligence agency, ISI, General (Retd) Asad Durrani, in a televised interview (7:10 -7:50 min in the video below) on being questioned on this duplicity," the report states.
The Abbottabad operation significantly intensified scrutiny of Pakistan's alleged links with terror networks, an issue that has repeatedly surfaced in global counter-terrorism investigations since 2001.
--IANS
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