WASHINGTON \u2014 The White House on Monday flatly rejected claims that Pakistan was told in advance about a 2011 special operations raid that killed al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Veteran US journalist Seymour Hersh claimed in a British publication that Pakistan’s security services not only knew about the raid, but had been holding bin Laden prisoner since 2006.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That account was rejected by the White House.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“This was a US operation through and through,” said Edward Price, a White House National Security Council spokesman.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“The notion that the operation” which killed the 9\/11 mastermind, “was anything but a unilateral US mission is patently false,” he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The raid on Abbottabad caused public outcry in Pakistan and strained already uneasy relations between Washington and Islamabad.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It was also seen as a hallmark achievement of Obama’s first term.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Knowledge of this operation was confined to a very small circle of senior US officials,” insisted Price.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“The president decided early on not to inform any other government, including the Pakistani Government, which was not notified until after the raid had occurred.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Hersh, who rose to prominence by exposing atrocities during the Vietnam War, was writing in the London Review of Books.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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