Pakistan Arrests C.I.A. Informants in Bin Laden Raid

Pakistan Arrests C.I.A. Informants in Bin Laden Raid

By ERIC SCHMITT and MARK MAZZETTI

Pakistan’s detention of five C.I.A. informants, including a Pakistani Army major, is the latest evidence of the fractured relationship between the United States and Pakistan.

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American officials said Mr. Panetta presented satellite photographs of two bomb-making factories that American spies several weeks ago had asked the ISI to raid. When Pakistani troops showed up days later, the militants were gone, causing American officials to question whether the militants had been warned by someone on the Pakistani side.

Shortly after the failed raids, the Defense Department put a hold on a $300 million payment reimbursing Pakistan for the cost of deploying more than 100,000 troops along the border with Afghanistan, two officials said. The Pentagon declined to comment on the payment, except to say it was “continuing to process several claims.”

Looks like the Pakistanis give a damn, regardless whether they get 300 mio $ or not. Perhaps it was one very last chance to get Bin Laden. The Pakistanis are distancing themselves pretty fast. They dont put up some minutemen on the Afghan border anymore. In other words, it might work in a very discomforting way for certain troops in Afghanistan if Pakistan enters the conflict.