Dr Shakil Afridi, a doctor who helped the CIA track down Osama bin Laden in his Abbottabad compound is paying a heavy price for his role in the operation.
Afridi was dismissed as a traitor in Pakistan but lauded as a hero by the United States. Shakil Afridi has been languishing in a prison in the city of Peshawar for almost ten years after his fake vaccination programme helped US agents track and kill the Al-Qaeda leader.
Dr Afridi’s role was a huge embarrassment for Pakistan. He argues he was denied a fair trial. He was never formally charged for his role in the 2011 operation to hunt down and kill the world’s most-wanted man.
All the Americans needed was a bit of proof that Bin Laden was there, so they had Afridi launch a vaccine campaign with the aim of extracting a DNA sample from inside his compound.
Shakeel Afridi, is a Pakistani physician who helped the CIA run a fake hepatitis vaccine program in Abbottabad, Pakistan, to confirm Osama bin Laden’s presence in the city by obtaining DNA samples. Details of his activities emerged during the Pakistani investigation of the deadly raid on bin Laden’s residence. This account is disputed in a recent account of events which implies Afridi was implicated as a cover for the real CIA operative.
The Pakistani government accused Dr. Shakil Afridi of cooperating with the United States and disclosing the location of Osama Bin Laden. He was able to verify Osama Bin Laden’s existence in Abbottabad by acquiring his DNA samples from a bogus hepatitis vaccination program that he was conducting. Through the DNA he obtained was how the US military caught Osama else Osama would still be alive today.
