United States President Barack Obama went before television cameras late Sunday night to announce that US forces had killed Osama bin Laden in a fire fight in Abbottabad, Pakistan yesterday. It reportedly took place on a heavily fortified compound approximately 100 kilometers outside of Islamabad.

Commentators and bloggers around the globe have called for substantive confirmation of the death of the Al Qaeda leader who is blamed for masterminding the September 2001 attacks on New York and Washington, as well as many other attacks around the globe. Other commentators are questioning how bin Laden’s death might shape the future of Al-Qaeda, and what the operations will mean to Pakistan-US relations. 

US-Pakistan relations

Since 2001, the United States has provided billions of dollars of military and humanitarian aid to Pakistan, partially in return for Pakistan’s cooperation in the American “war on terror”. In his public statement, Obama said that bin Laden fled US military operations in Afghanistan to Pakistan. For years,  US officials have repeatedly suggested that bin Laden was in hiding in Pakistan, which Pakistani officials have consistently denied.

On Sunday night, Barack Obama said, “Over the years, I have made clear that we would take action within Pakistan if we knew where bin Laden was. That is what we have done. But it is important to note that our counter-terrorism cooperation with Pakistan helped lead us to bin Laden and the compound where he was hiding.”

Obama said that “a small team of Americans carried out the operation,” though Pakistani military officials who confirmed that bin Laden had been killed, told Pakistan’s Dawn news site that the operation was a joint American-Pakistan effort. 

According to Dawn, a security analyst from Pakistan, Imtiaz Gul, predicted “for some time there will be a lot of tension between Washington and Islamabad because bin Laden seems to have been living here close to Islamabad.” Other analysts say that the purportedly cooperative nature of the operation will ease any such tensions. 

Bin Laden's remains

During his announcement, Obama said that bin Laden’s body was in American custody. Immediately following the statement, commentators around the globe began calling for substantive evidence of bin Laden’s death. The New York Times and the BBC have reported US officials saying that bin Laden’s body was buried at sea, according to the Muslim custom of burying the body within 24 hours of death.

Commentators worldwide are predicting that bin Laden will be a martyr in the eyes of his supporters. Fearing reprisals from Al-Qaeda, British embassies and offices overseas are heightening security. The United States department of homeland security has put their overseas facilities on high alert and has issued a travel warning to Americans in “areas where recent events could cause anti-American violence.”