Center for Investigative Reporting

csmonitor:

Arshad Khan is one of countless young boys recruited by a network of Taliban commanders. His story highlights the challenge ahead for Pakistani authorities in ending the war on terror.

Khan gave up his aspiration to become a suicide bomber shortly after he barely survived a drone attack in…

In a visit to Pakistan today to reset strained U.S.-Pakistani relations in the wake of Osama bin Laden’s death, Secretary of State Hillary Clintonreiterated that the U.S. has no evidence that any senior Pakistani officials knew bin Laden was hiding in the country. But, according a New York Times report this morning,U.S. officials have uncovered evidence that bin Laden considered cutting a deal with those very Pakistani officials shortly before Navy SEALs killed him.

Messages between the al-Qaeda leader and his top operations chief—seized from bin Laden’s Abbotobad compound—discuss a deal in which al-Qaeda would cease attacks in Pakistan if Pakistani authorities protected bin Laden and other top al-Qaeda leaders, though U.S. officials stress there’s no indication that bin Laden’s aides brought the idea to Pakistani military or intelligence operatives

ageofperil:

An English-language daily newspaper in Pakistan known as Dawn is sifting through sensitive documents made public by the anti-secrecy site Wikileaks in search of new information about how the country’s government operates. Among the findings included in a package of stories called the Pakistan Papers:

The general support for drone strikes from both the military and civilian leadership is also evidenced by the continuous demand, documented over numerous cables, from Pakistan government officials to American interlocutors for drone technology to be placed in Pakistani hands. The issue conveyed to the Americans is not so much that of accuracy as that of managing public perceptions. In [a meeting with Sen. Patrick Leahy, Asif Ali] Zardari is directly quoted telling the U.S. delegation to ‘give me the drones so my forces can take out the militants.’ That way, he explains, ‘we cannot be criticized by the media or anyone else for actions our army takes to protect our sovereignty.

ageofperil:

Documents and other material scooped up by commandos after the killing of Osama bin Laden show that the world’s most wanted man obsessed for years over how to carry out another attack on the United States matching the fury of Sept. 11.

But his allies had other targets more important to them — countries they didn’t believe would respond as harshly as the Americans. From the Washington Post:

    Some followers pledged their fealty to him; others, however, chafed at his exhortations to remain focused on U.S. targets instead of mounting less risky operations in places such as Yemen, Somalia and Algeria.

ProPublica adds that bin Laden sought to micro-manage tasks and deeply involve himself in identifying perpetrators for attacks, determining what to strike and deciding when it should be done, according to officials.