Pakistan considers India a ‘threat’ but US differs: Panetta

Pakistan considers India a “threat”, US Defence Secretary Leon Panetta has said, underlining Washington’s differences with Islamabad on the common threats facing them.
“It is a complex relationship. It always has been and I suspect it always will be,” Panetta told CBC TV in an interview on Monday. “In some ways we share a common concern and a common threat. Terrorism is as much a threat to Pakistan and the people of Pakistan as it is to us and to the people of Afghanistan,” he said. At the same time, Panetta noted that the two countries differed on the threat perception. He said while they “have common cause, the problem is that Pakistan views its position “threatened by India”. “As a result of that, sometimes we get very mixed messages from Pakistan as to just exactly where they’re going to be,” he said.
On the issue of keeping the raid on Osama bin Laden’s safe house in Abbottabad a secret, the Pentagon chief said he did not provide information to Pakistan because he feared this could be leaked by them and would not be able to accomplish their mission. “The concern we had is that… we had provided intelligence to them with regards to other areas and unfortunately, one way or another, it got leaked to the individuals we were trying to go after,” Panetta said. “So as a result of that we were concerned that if we were going to perform a sensitive mission like this, we had to do it on our own,” he underlined. Reiterating that he had not come across anything so far which reflected a direct link between the top Pakistani leadership and the safe hideout of bin Laden, Panetta expressed concern over how a compound like this would not be known to them (Pakistani establishment), adding however that he had not found a direct link or “evidence that involved a direct connection to the Pakistanis”.
“These situations sometimes, you know, the leadership within Pakistan (sic) is obviously not aware of certain things and yet people lower down in the military establishment find it very well, they’ve been aware of it. But bottom line is that we have not had evidence that provides that direct link,” he noted.