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WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Obama brass has seen no grounds Pakistan's polity knew Osama containerful Laden was living in that country before his ending terminal hebdomad by U.S. forces, the U.S. national security authority said on Sunday.

"I crapper verify you direct that -- I've not seen grounds that would verify us that the political, the military, or the info leadership had foreknowledge -- of containerful Laden," Tom Donilon told NBC's "Meet the Press" when asked if Pakistan was blameable of harboring the al FTO leader.

But he additional containerful Laden's residence for several eld exclusive a bilobed in Abbottabad, 35 miles north of the capital, Islamabad, "needs to be investigated.

"The Pakistanis hit said they're feat to investigate," Donilon said. "This is a rattling big supply in Pakistan correct now. How could this hit happened in Pakistan? We need to analyse it. We need to impact with the Pakistanis. And we're imperative the Pakistanis on this investigation."

He said Asiatic officials also necessary to provide U.S polity with info they had gathered from the bilobed where containerful Laden was killed, including admittance to threesome wives who are in Asiatic custody.

But he additional that despite difficulties in the U.S.-Pakistani relationship, "We've also had to impact rattling intimately with Pakistan in our counter-terror efforts. solon terrorists and extremists hit been captured or killed in Pakistan than anyplace else."

Pakistan, hard dependent on zillions of dollars in U.S. aid, is low pure pressure to vindicate how containerful Laden could hit spent so some eld unobserved meet a some hours' intend from its info headquarters in the capital.

Senior Asiatic officials said on Saturday that containerful Laden haw hit lived in Pakistan for more than heptad eld before he was effort to modification by U.S. Navy SEALs.

One of containerful Laden's widows told Asiatic investigators that he stayed in a community for nearly 2 1/2 eld before agitated to the nearby garrison town of Abbottabad.

The wife, Amal Ahmed Abdulfattah, said containerful Laden and his family had spent fivesome eld in Abbottabad, where digit of the most elaborate manhunts in story ended on Monday.

'REAL BLOW'

Suspicions hit deepened that Pakistan's pervasive Inter-Services Intelligence wrecker agency, which has a long story of contacts with crusader groups, haw hit had ties with containerful Laden -- or that at small some of its agents did. The authority has been described as a land within a state.

Pakistan has unemployed such suggestions and says it has paid the maximal price in manlike life and money activity the U.S. struggle on militancy launched after containerful Laden's mass staged the Sept 11, 2001, attacks on the United States.

Donilon said the ending of containerful Laden was "a actual blow" to the al FTO crusader network.

He said an brass categorization at the end of terminal year determined that al FTO was in its weakest appearance since 2001, though still dangerous.

"With the steps that we took with the attack on the bilobed in Pakistan and the ending of Osama containerful Laden, they are even weaker still," he said.

Donilon declined to handle if grounds uncovered at containerful Laden's bilobed revealed grounds of specific al FTO plots against the United States, but said, "It's dead critical for us to rest alert as we continue to advise this organization."

(Writing by Peter Cooney; Editing by Jackie Frank)

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