Saudi Arabia and Turkey separately played significant roles in persuading Pakistan to give up Osama bin Laden and facilitate his elimination by the US,
In limited, highly classified briefings for key Congressional leaders, the Obama administration has shared some of its assessments that the Saudis advised Pakistan that it was necessary to take the al Qaida bull by its horns as part of a bigger strategy to manage "the Arab Spring" which is threatening established governments from Oman to Morocco.
What the Saudis are seeking is to translate a broad convergence of their own survival instincts with US interests in an Arab world which is in ferment. That convergence cannot be achieved without a greater role for Pakistan in putting down the uprisings in countries like Bahrain and helping preserve the status quo in the Arab world, making way, perhaps, for nothing more than cosmetic changes.
It is well known that Pakistanis serving in Bahrain's police brutally put down the recent Egypt-style Shia protests in the island kingdom. The forces sent in by Saudi Arabia to reinforce Bahrain's security forces were also reportedly made up of significant numbers of Pakistanis.
As the Arab world gets into deeper ferment, Riyadh is counting on Pakistan ' both Islamabad's regular forces and Pakistanis already employed by security forces in every Gulf country ' to provide the last stand for Arab rulers in case the democracy movement in West Asia gets "out of hand" as the Saudis see it.
It is a role that Pakistan has historically engaged in. During "Black September" in 1970, when Palestinians nearly brought down King Hussein's monarchy in Jordan, it was a unit of the Pakistani army led by none other than the late Gen. Zia-ul Haq that brutally put down the revolt and preserved Hashemite
Similarly, elite units of Pakistan's army protected the Saudi royal family for decades because the Saudi rulers did not fully trust their own citizens or even those from other Arab countries.
By all accounts, Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, Pakistan's chief of army staff, would not be averse to reinventing Pakistan's role in global security affairs on these lines
After all, that is how Pakistan has all along remained relevant to the world: in July 1971, Islamabad was the secret gateway for the then US national security adviser Henry Kissinger's visit to China to open Sino-American relations. Pakistan's involvement in Cento and Seato, the US-sponsored defence arrangements, predates such efforts to remain relevant.
But such a restructuring of the existing order in West and South Asia would not be possible without the acquiescence of Washington. Which was why the Saudis decided to lean on Pakistan to give up Osama.
What is more interesting than Kayani's bravado in issuing such a warning is the instant response to it from Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff. In a statement issued on behalf of Mullen, his spokesman said: "The small number of US military trainers in Pakistan are there at the invitation of the Pakistani government, and therefore, subject to that government's prerogatives."
More of such symphony in the US-Pakistan orchestra is to be expected in the coming days with the two sides disagreeing in public, even to the point of behaving like adversaries, for popular consumption but working together behind the scenes to advance their common interests in South and Central Asia and the Arab world.
In nutshell Pakistan will continue to enjoy a high priority support from US (including 1 billion dollars every year + military hardware).
OBL was an enemy of US and then Israel, when he was brought into Pakistan in 2005 the probable idea was to use him tospread jehad influence over J&K so that war started in 1990 (let India bleed through thousand cuts by ISI) could continue. But as fate had it, OBL used influence and clout (inside Pakistan) to wage war against US in Afghanistan , this is being seen as one of the reasons he got abaondoned by Pakistan's army.
(Excerpts from defence analysis paper in Telegraph and Jihad in paradise-Mike Millar)
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