E-Paper
Would repeat Pakistan raid, warns Obama
US President Barack Obama stands ready to order a similar mission to the one that killed terror mastermind Osama bin Laden in Pakistan, he said in a BBC interview broadcast on Sunday.
US President Barack Obama stands ready to order a similar mission to the one that killed terror mastermind Osama bin Laden in Pakistan, he said in a BBC interview broadcast on Sunday.
Asked whether he would do the same again if another high-value target was discovered in Pakistan, or any other sovereign territory, Obama replied: “I've always been clear to the Pakistanis ... that our job is to secure the United States.
"We are very respectful of the sovereignty of Pakistan but we cannot allow someone who is actively planning to kill our people or our allies' people, we can't allow those kinds of active plans to come to fruition without us taking some action.”
In the interview, conducted last Thursday at the White House, Obama said Pakistan's obsession with India that made it look at its neighbour as an “existential threat” was a mistake. Pakistan would do well to shed the contest mentality.
Both British Prime Minister David Cameron and he understood that Pakistan had been “very obsessed” with India, he said. Pakistan should realise that the biggest threat to it wasn't from outside but was “homegrown”. “They see that as their existential threat. I think that’s a mistake. I think that peace between India and Pakistan would serve Pakistan very well”.
The US was trying to bring about a reorientation in Pakistan's attitude towards India and make it recognise that the main threat to it was from terrorists operating from Pakistan soil.
