US Congress: Pakistani Military and Intelligence Have 'A Lot Of Explaining To Do' For Sheltering Bin Laden; Outcome Could Affect US Aid and Relations w India

The belief was common in US military and intelligence circles that Osama Bin Laden was being sheltered in Pakistan. However, the perception was that he was hiding out in the poorly controlled Northwestern tribal areas, not in a well-appointed villa in a Pakistani army garrison town, an hour north of the nation's capital. There is virtually no possibility that he was there without the knowledge of the military and intelligence leadership.

The question is how severely this affect US relations with Pakistan, particularly the billions in aid given annually to that country's military. This event will also bolster US relations with India, a trend that had been building based on its mutually beneficial commercial opportunities. The strength of those business ties will now expand due to Pakistan's perceived duplicity and India's burgeoning growth as a diplomatic ally. Ben Beutler reports in TPM:

"The Senate's top armed services expert on Capitol Hill says Pakistan's military and intelligence have grave questions to answer after Osama Bin Laden was killed in an elaborate compound, deep inside Pakistan, near a top Pakistani military facility.

"I think that the Pakistani army and intelligence have a lot of questions to answer, given the location, the length of time, and the apparent fact that this facility was built for bin Laden, and its closeness to the central location to the Pakistani army," said Sen. Carl Levin (D-MI), who chairs the Senate Armed Services committee, in a Capitol briefing with reporters Monday morning.

"I think the Pakistani president's statement today was a very reassuring statement -- when he very specifically said that he thinks that it's a great victory and a success, and to congratulate us on the success of the operation," Levin added. "So reassured by his statement, not necessarily suspicious that he knew, or the civilian leadership knew. But I must tell you I hope that he will follow through -- that the President of Pakistan Hardari will follow through and ask some very tough questions with his own military and his own intelligence. They've got a lot of explaining to do."

A number of reports -- including from President Obama himself -- indicate that Pakistan facilitated the intelligence that ultimately led U.S. forces to bin Laden's compound.

"[I]t's important to note that our counterterrorism cooperation with Pakistan helped lead us to bin Laden and the compound where he was hiding," Obama said in a statement from the White House late Sunday night.

There's a balancing act under way, but it sounds like officials both in the United States and in Pakistan believe that Pakistan's defense and intelligence establishments helped bin Laden survive in almost plain sight for many years.