Serving and retired officials from both countries say the United States and Pakistan arrived at a secret agreement in 2001 that if the U.S. discovered Osama bin Laden hiding in Pakistan, it could conduct a unilateral operation against him.
Under the terms of the agreement, Pakistan would decry the operation publicly, after the fact, but would do nothing to hinder the U.S. hunt for bin Laden. The deal was struck between President Bush and Gen. Pervez Musharraf.
They reached the agreement shortly after bin Laden escaped U.S. forces in Tora Bora. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani has stated that Pakistan is reserving its "right to retaliate with full force."
