Bin Laden and the Afghan endgame

Javed Burki Saheb’s syndicated column on the meaning of Osama bin Laden’s death stuck me as an important contribution. Burki Saheb has impeccable credentials as an intellectual and public figure and to be well-informed about the “powers that be” in Pakistan, especially from his present vantage point in Lahore. He not only refuses to rule out Pakistani involvement in the Abbottabad operation but suggests that OBL’s death actually suits Islamabad and could have been stage-managed as a well-conceived game plan in order to break the nexus between al-Qaeda and Haqqani network (Pakistan’s favourite proxy in Afghanistan) which in turn can pave the way for a "settlement" in Kabul to the mutual satisfaction of Washington and Islamabad. I’d recommend the article for careful reading.