Pakistan's spy agency must have known Osama bin Laden was living in a military town near the capital, an Afghan official said Wednesday, accusing the country of playing a "double game", dpa reported.
"Not only Pakistan with its strong intelligence service but even a weak government with a weak intelligence service would have known who was living in that house in such a location," said General Mohammad Zahir Azimi, the Defence Ministry spokesman.
The allegation added to international suspicions about Pakistan's role in fighting terrorism.
United States special forces early Monday found and killed the most wanted man in a compound close to the Kakul Military Academy in Abbottabad, 60 kilometres from Islamabad.
"There are lots of questions that need answers," Azimi said at a press conference in Kabul. He said that Inter-Services Intelligence, Pakistan's spy agency, had to provide answers.
"If an agency is not aware of the most wanted terrorist of the world living right next to them, how can they protect their strategic weapons?" he said in reference to Pakistan's nuclear arsenal.
Azimi said if they were aware of bin Laden's whereabouts, "then it was really a double game Pakistan was playing."
They are getting broad support from the international community and the US government in the name counter-terrorism efforts, the general said. "On the other hand, terrorist cells are inside the heart of the Pakistani intelligence service."
Afghan President Hamid Karzai, after the announcement of bin Laden's death, said on Monday that the incident proved to the world that Afghanistan was right in saying "the fight against terrorism is not in Afghanistan."
Azimi said Afghanistan was bracing for "revenge attacks from al-Qaeda supporters" in the immediate aftermath of bin Laden's death. He said Afghan security forces were increasing their presence in key areas in anticipation of any such attacks.
The al-Qaeda leader's death would eventually make it easier to defeat the Taliban, Azimi told reporters
The US-led invasion of Afghanistan started in November 2001, two months after the September 11 attacks that killed around 3,000 people. The US accused the then Taliban government in Kabul of harbouring bin Laden.
The Afghan war has killed thousands of people but the Taliban insurgency continues. Starting this July, Afghan security forces are due to take over some areas in a handover of security responsibility slated to be completed by 2014.
...