US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has not given a clean chit to Pakistans Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) over its alleged complicity in Osama bin Ladens sheltering in Abbottabad,her spokesman has said. I dont think she [Clinton gave them a free chit, Deputy State Department Spokesman Mark C. Toner told reporters in Washington. We acknowledge that there are difficulties in the relationship,but the bottom line is that this is a relationship thats in our interest and in Pakistans interest,and so we need to work through these challenges moving forward, he added. Al-Qaeda founder Osama bin Laden,who had evaded capture for a decade,was killed on May 2 in a top-secret operation involving a small team of US Special Forces in Pakistans Abbottabad city. Following the raid,some US lawmakers had said that it defied logic that bin Laden was able to hide in plain sight without some level of official Pakistani knowledge or complicity. During a press briefing following her talks with Pakistans civilian and military leadership in Islamabad on Friday,Clinton had said: I want to underscore a point There is absolutely no evidence that anyone at the highest levels of the Pakistani Government knew that Osama bin Laden was living just miles from where we are today. Toner also said that Clinton had a very frank,open discussion with Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari,and then with Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani,Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Hina Rabbani Khar,Foreign Secretary Salman Bashir,Chief of the Army Staff (COAS) General Ashfaq Pervaiz Kayani and Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) chief Lieutenant General Ahmad Shuja Pasha. The Secretary was clear to say that were at a pivotal moment in the relationship,certainly with the death of bin Laden,but theres other important aspects of the relationship that are in motion, said Toner. Weve been applying next door in Afghanistan; weve been applying steady pressure on the Taliban. We want to see also,concurrent with that,the reconciliation Afghan-led reconciliation process move forward. So theres clearly a lot on the table here. This is not a time for inaction at all. This is a time for greater action and consolidated effort,I think,is what the Secretary was trying to say, he added.
