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Surprise: Bin Laden's doc is not safe anywhere in Pakistan
The house and madrassa, or seminary, where militant Fazle-ur-Rahman Khalil lives stands behind a high wall in the suburb of Golra Sharif outside Pakistan's capital, Islamabad.

Surprise: Bin Laden's doc is not safe anywhere in Pakistan

ABC News reports that the Pakistani doctor America's intelligence community used to hunt down Osama bin Laden is in danger inside and outside of prison -- as long as he remains in Pakistan:

Dr. Shakil Afridi was sentenced last week to more than 30 years in prison -- a conviction that at the time was reportedly linked to his role in running a vaccination program for the CIA near bin Laden's compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan. The ploy was an attempt to collect DNA from bin Laden's relatives and verify the al Qaeda leader was indeed in the compound. Bin Laden was killed in a Navy SEAL raid on the compound May 2, 2011.

Days after Afridi's sentencing, however, the Pakistani court released charging documents that claimed he had not been convicted for helping the CIA, but for aiding a Pakistani terrorist organization called Lashkar-e-Islam. Afridi had allegedly given the group two million rupees, or $21,000, and provided medical care for militants.

But today Lashkar-e-Islam not only denied any links to "such a shameless man," but said that they would kill Afridi if given the chance. The money, a spokesperson told Agence France Presse, was a fine levied by the group against Afridi.

The Pakistani Taliban issued its own gruesome threat against Afridi, telling CNN today they would "cut him into pieces when we find him" for helping the U.S. kill bin Laden, their "hero."

Both threats came after a Pakistani intelligence agency reportedly issued a warning detailing the danger to Afridi coming from inside the Peshawar prison where "many" of the 3,000 inmates held negative sentiments towards him. Afridi was given personal armed guards, according to local media.

It's disgraceful that the U.S. didn't smuggle the doc out of Pakistan before the bin Laden raid ever went down.  Amateurs in the Obama administration apparently didn't see this backlash coming, though I'm not entirely sure how.  Instead, we've left a cooperative ally to fend for himself after he put his life on the line to help us bring down the world's most-wanted fugitive.

"This was an individual who in fact helped provide intelligence that was very helpful with regards to this operation," Defense Secretary Leon Panetta has said of Afridi. "He was not in any way treasonous towards Pakistan, he was not doing anything that would in any way undermine Pakistan... Pakistan and the United States have a common cause against terrorism."

Yeah, except clearly we don't and we have condemned a good man to death.

The best the United States -- the most powerful nation on earth -- can muster these days? A UN-style slap on the wrist:

Last week the U.S. Senate moved to cut Pakistani aid by $33 million -- $1 million for every year of Afridi's sentence -- in response to his conviction.

"We call upon the Pakistani government to pardon and release Dr. Afridi immediately. At a time when the United States and Pakistan need more than ever to work constructively together, Dr. Afridi's continuing imprisonment and treatment as a criminal will only do further harm to U.S.-Pakistani relations, including diminishing Congress's willingness to provide financial assistance to Pakistan," Sen. John McCain (R.-Arizona) said then.

Shameful.

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Meredith Jessup

Meredith Jessup

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