The White House on Thursday welcomed Pakistan’s decision to launch an investigation into the circumstances and support structure that al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden had in an affluent suburb of Islamabad where he was killed by U.S. special forces.
“The Pakistani government has launched an investigation of its own, and we think that’s a good thing.
We will work to find out as much as we can about how that happened,” White House Press Secretary Jay Carney told reporters.
The U.S. is interested in finding out the details of the support network that helped bin Laden hide in Abbottabad.
“We don’t know the members of that support network,” he said.
Mr. Carney reiterated that America’s relationship with Pakistan, while complicated, is very important, and it is very important precisely because of the U.S. need to continue the fight against al Qaeda, to continue the fight against terrorists.
“The fight is not done, and we look forward to cooperating with Pakistan in the future. As others have said, more terrorists have been killed on Pakistani soil than probably any other country. The cooperation we’ve received from Pakistan has been very useful in that regard,” he said.
Noting that the United States and Pakistan don’t agree on everything, he said, their cooperation has been essential in the fight against al Qaeda.
“We continue to work on that relationship and seek that cooperation and receive it. We will continue to seek and find and bring to justice terrorists who are plotting to do harm to Americans and our allies,” he said.
