Pakistan leader says US ‘martyred’ Osama bin Laden

It may seem like ancient history to Americans who are notorious for their amnesia when it comes to past events.

It is nearly 19 years since 9/11 and the subsequent “War on Terror.”

Now that America is living through the Trump era, a Pandemic and an awakening of America’s racist heritage the events of September 2011 have passed into the fog of memory. Gone, if not forgotten.  Except those whose families suffered in the carnage of that September day.

Deutsche Welle 6.25.2020

The Pakistani PM has said that the US “martyred” bin Laden after its 2011 raid. Khan was critical of his predecessors’ relationship with Washington and rued Islamabad’s decision to partner the US in the war on terror.

Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan said Thursday that the United States “martyred” Osama bin Laden by killing the al-Qaida leader in 2011.

The US did not make the Pakistani government aware of its plans to take out the mastermind of the 9/11 terror attacks and Khan delivered a thinly veiled criticism of Washington during a speech in parliament, while also denouncing his predecessors’ foreign policies.

Read more: Opinion: ‘As an Afghan refugee in Iran, I grew up with fear and humiliation’

Khan said he regretted Pakistan’s partnership with the US in the war on terror and accused the White House of using abusive language against Islamabad in the past.

Osama bin Laden III  6.25.2020.jpg

The former cricketer turned politician also expressed his ire at Washington’s covert operation on May 2, 2011, carried out the US Navy SEALs. The special operations force pounced on bin Laden’s compound in the military garrison town of Abbottabad in the midst of the night, killing the al-Qaida chief along with several of his operatives.

“We sided with the US in the War on Terror,” Khan said, “but they came here and killed him, martyred him and … used abusive language against us (and) did not inform us (of the raid), despite the fact that we lost 70,000 people in the war on terror.”

Khan: ‘They blamed us for every failure’

Over the years Washington has repeatedly accused Pakistan of harboring terrorists, something Pakistan has repeatedly denied and Khan was keen to send a broadside in the direction of Washington. He told parliament: “The way we supported America in the war on terror, and the insults we had to face in return. They blamed us for every failure in Afghanistan. They openly held us responsible because they did not succeed in Afghanistan,” Khan said.

https://www.dw.com/en/pakistan-imran-khan-says-us-martyred-osama-bin-laden/a-53944280