U.S. Department of Defense Clarifies Comments by Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta

Islamabad: Pentagon Press Secretary George Little issued the following statement clarifying recent comments to 60 Minutes by U.S. Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta

*In an interview with 60 Minutes several months ago, Secretary Panetta made clear his belief — which other senior U.S. officials have also expressed — that Osama Bin Laden had some kind of support network within Pakistan.

The Secretary indicated in the same interview that he has seen no evidence that Bin Laden was supported by the Pakistani government or that senior Pakistani officials knew he was hiding in the Abbottabad compound. Since the Bin Laden operation, Secretary Panetta and his colleagues in the U.S. government have been working hard to improve U.S.-Pakistani relations.

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