The cellphone of Osama bin LadenÂ’s trusted courier, recovered in the raid that killed both of them last month, contained contacts to a militant group that is a longtime asset of PakistanÂ’s intelligence agency, according to senior American officials.
It appears that Bin Laden used the group, Harakat-ul-Mujahedeen, as part of his support network inside the country. And it raised questions about whether the group and similar ones helped shelter and support Bin Laden on behalf of the ISI, in light of the fact that it had mentored Harakat and let it to operate in Pakistan for at least 20 years.
The revelation may provide a crucial clue about Bin LadenÂ’s secret journey after he slipped away from American forces in the Tora Bora. It may help show how and why Bin Laden or his protectors chose Abbottabad.
Harakat has deep roots in the area, and the group's network would have enhanced Bin LadenÂ’s ability to function in Pakistan. Its leaders have strong ties with both Al Qaeda and Pakistani intelligence, and they can roam freely because they are Pakistanis, something the foreigners in Al Qaeda cannot do.
Even today, the groupÂ’s leader, Maulana Fazlur Rehman Khalil, one of Bin LadenÂ’s closest associates, lives untroubled by Pakistani authorities on the outskirts of Islamabad. |