More from tomorrow's 60 Minutes interview with Secretary Panetta, who according to the New York Times became the first Obama Administration official to publicly confirm that a Pakistani doctor had been working for the CIA collecting intel in Abbottabad.
As many you may recall, Dr. Shikal Afridi ran a phony hepatitis B vaccination program as a ruse to obtain DNA from the occupants of the Abbottabad compound to confirm whether they were Osama bin Laden's family. After the raid, Afridi was subsequently arrested by Pakistani authorities and charged with treason.
Although Dr. Afridi did not get any DNA samples from bin Laden's family, Panetta told 60 Minutes that he was "very helpful" and added that "For them to take this kind of action against somebody who was helping to go after terrorism, I just think is a real mistake on their part." Although Panetta's acknowledgement is hopefully a sign that the Administration will not abandon Afridi, it also confirms every Pakistani conspiracy theory about the reach of the CIA within Pakistani society.
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