No reason to believe Pakistani leadership knew presence of Laden: US

"The official was surprised to learn this and said the Americans were even more so," she wrote.

Pasha was an energetic opponent of the Taliban and an open and cooperative counterpart for the Americans at the ISI.

"Pasha was always their blue-eyed boy," the official said.

"But in the weeks and months after the raid, Pasha and the ISI press office strenuously denied that they had any knowledge of bin Laden's presence in Abbottabad," she wrote.