Washington, D.C. -
The Senate today approved cutting $33 million in financial aid to Pakistan after Pakistan sentenced Dr. Shakil Afridi to 33 years for assisting the CIA in finding Osama bin Laden saying any other country would have done the same if they found a foreign spy in their own territory.
Pakistan has sentenced Dr. Shakil Afridi to 33 years in prison under its Frontier Crimes Regulations, FCR, for helping the United States hunt down and kill Osama bin Laden.
Afridi ran a vaccination clinic for the public and also helped to quietly collect DNA samples in Abbottabad of the population for the CIA's search for bin Laden for a decade. Human rights groups have called the FCR abuse because it is a special set of regulations that govern the restive tribal region of Pakistan where clan leaders and militants rule.
[Editorial by Paul ..]
As news about Osama bin Laden's private life on the run come out, we learn he had four sons with his youngest wife, Amal Ahmad Abdul Fatah, who has been revealing her relationship with bin Laden over the last 10 years. In that time, she had four sons with bin Laden, and as one person asked, "does honor they father ...., still apply to his sons?"
Pakistan has charged three of Osama bin Laden's widows with entering the country illegal, a punishment that can earn them up to five years in prison. One was from Yemen, one from Saudi Arabia and the third's place of origin has not been released.
Today marks 10 years since America waged war against Afghanistan, but it has become more of fighting a war "in" Afghanistan now, with the current Afghanistan government an ally, albeit grudgingly at times.
President Obama noted the 10-year anniversary of the war's start in a quiet style, offering a written statement and holding no public events to mark the moment.
Pakistan has arrested and charged a doctor that allegedly helped the CIA find Osama bin Laden with treason.
Dr. Shakeel Afridi is accused of helping the CIA use a vaccination campaign to try to collect DNA samples from people who lived in bin Laden's compound.
The United States "has repeatedly asked" for the release of the Pakistani doctor, a U.S. official said Thursday. The official declined to comment further on the treason charges.