London, May 22: US President Barack Obama today said he would not hesitate to order another Abbottabad-like operation in Pakistan if a militant leader like Osama bin Laden was traced down to that country.
Speaking to the BBC on the eve of his visit to Britain, Obama said that he was mindful of Pakistani sovereignty but the US could not allow "active plans to come to fruition without us taking some action".
Asked what he would do if one of al-Qaeda's top leaders, or the Taliban leader Mullah Omar, was tracked down to a location in Pakistan or another sovereign territory, he said the US would take unilateral action if required.
He said, "Our job is to secure the United States. We are very respectful of the sovereignty of Pakistan. But we cannot allow someone who is actively planning to kill our people or our allies' people. We can't allow those kind of active plans to come to fruition without us taking some action."
The raid on May 2 in Abbottabad has raised hackles in Islamabad and generated tension between the US and Pakistan.
Recalling the raid, Obama said "that was as long a 40 minutes as I care to experience during my presidency".
He added that the killing of bin Laden could be a "wake-up call where we start seeing a more effective co-operative relationship" with Pakistan.
Obama said the US is actively investigating if Osama had any backing -- official or non-official -- in Pakistan that sustained him there for over five years.
"What we know is that for him to have been there for five or six years probably required some sort of support external to the compound. Whether that was non-governmental, governmental, a broad network, or a handful of individuals, those are all things that we
are investigating, but we're also asking the Pakistanis to investigate," he said.
He said Pakistanis were "troubled" by the incident and it was "incumbent" on the establishment to thoroughly probe the circumstances surrounding bin Laden's stay in the country.

Lastupdate on : Sun, 22 May 2011 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Sun, 22 May 2011 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Mon, 23 May 2011 00:00:00 IST