Did Pakistan know? Obama’s ‘kiss of death’

Take a straw poll of experts in India, and you'll have a tough time finding anybody who believes this pivotal line from Obama's statement on the killing of Osama bin Laden: "it’s important to note that our counterterrorism cooperation with Pakistan helped lead us to bin Laden and the compound where he was hiding."

But India's diplomats may be happy, just the same — even if teh schadenfreude comes with fears of worsening unrest and a weakening of the civilian government in Pakistan. Why's that?

According to one former Indian diplomat, Obama's gracious thank you to Islamabad, and his claim that President Zardari and co "agree that this is a good and historic day for both of our nations" amounts to a kiss of death for the Pakistan government.

"There's also going to be rising anger of the people against their own establishment," said former Indian foreign secretary Lalit Mansingh, "because President Obama made clear in his remakrs that this couldn't have been done without the cooperation of the Pakistanis. That's like a kiss of death. As it is the government is beleagured and theres' rising anger against the Americans [due to the ongoing attacks by Predator drones].