From Abbottabad's Neptune Spear To Operation Sindoor, Pakistani Forces Caught Off Guard Once Again

Last Updated:May 07, 2025, 14:33 IST

Pakistan was unprepared, just like it was in 2011, when the US carried out ‘Operation Neptune Spear’ to kill Osama bin Laden, in their version of India’s “ghus ke maarenge”

Osama bin Laden was killed by the US in 2011. (File)

As the visuals of India’s Operation Sindoor, targeting nine terror locations in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) flooded the social media, Pakistani locals were puzzled, but not by the airstrikes.

The tension with India in the wake of the Pahalgam attack on April 22 was no secret and even their leaders had spoken about such a possibility. But even two weeks later, the Pakistani government was completely unprepared, just like it was in 2011, when the United States (US) carried out ‘Operation Neptune Spear’ to kill Osama bin Laden in Abbottabad, in what was their version of India’s “ghus ke maarenge".

OPERATION SINDOOR: 9 TARGETS, 25 MINUTES

The Indian armed forces struck terrorist camps in Pakistan’s Punjab and PoK. Four targets were hit in Punjab, where the headquarters of Jaish and Lashkar are located, while five targets were destroyed in PoK, officials said. As many as 21 terror strikes across nine targets were carried out within 25 minutes late Tuesday night, around 1 am to 1.30 am.

Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhar’s 10 family members, including his sister, were killed in the Indian strikes inside Pakistan’s Bahawalpur. The UN-designated terrorist’s brother-in-law was also among the family members blown up in the strikes.

HOW LADEN WAS KILLED IN 40-MINUTE RAID

On May 2, 2011, the United States conducted Operation Neptune Spear, in which SEAL Team Six shot and killed Osama bin Laden at his ‘Waziristan Haveli’ in Abbottabad, Pakistan.

Laden, who founded al-Qaeda and masterminded the September 11 attacks, had been the subject of a United States military manhunt since the beginning of the War in Afghanistan, but escaped to Pakistan. Approved by American president Barack Obama and involving two dozen Navy SEALs in two Black Hawks, Operation Neptune Spear was launched from around 120 miles (190 km) away, near the Afghan city of Jalalabad. The raid took 40 minutes, and bin Laden was killed shortly before 1:00 a.m. Pakistan Standard Time.

Three other men, including one of bin Laden’s sons, and a woman in the compound were also killed. After the raid, the operatives returned to Afghanistan with Laden’s corpse for identification and then flew over 850 miles to the Arabian Sea, where he was buried in accordance with Islamic tradition. Al-Qaeda confirmed bin Laden’s death through posts made on militant websites on May 6, and vowed to avenge his killing.

PAKISTAN CAUGHT NAPPING

After the killing of 26 in Kashmir’s Pahalgam, India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi repeatedly warned that “every terrorist, their handlers and backers would be tracked and punished". Home Minister Amit Shah, too, had warned: “Chun chun ke jawaab denge".

Pakistan’s authorities, too, made statements about a possible attack from India.

Barely 24 hours before the airstrikes, Pakistan Defence Minister Khawaja Asif had said, “If India dares to attack Pakistan and Pakistan’s existence comes under threat, nobody will survive in this world." Asif had also likened the situation to the Israeli military offensive in Gaza, saying that the same mentality is being applied by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his allies. “If this were to happen to us… if our existence is in danger, then either we survive, or no one does," he added.

Their Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Ambassador Asim Iftikhar Ahmad, had said after the closed-door UNSC meeting that while Pakistan does not seek confrontation, Islamabad was “fully prepared to defend our sovereignty and territorial integrity".

Asif had also sought an investigation into the Pahalgam attack by Russia, China and other Western countries and said that a military incursion by neighbouring India was “imminent".

As India paused the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT) in one of the diplomatic measures after Pahalgam, Pakistan minister Hanif Abbasi warned that Islamabad’s stockpile — Ghori, Shaheen, and Ghaznavi missiles along with 130 nuclear warheads — has been kept “only for India."

But caught unawares after the attack, their tone changed. Desperate to protect his image, PM Shehbaz Sharif vowed a “response". Major General Ahmed Sharif, Director General of Inter-Services Public Relations (DG ISPR), went a step further to hide the embarrassment. “Pakistan will respond to it at a time and place of its own choosing. It will not go unanswered. The temporary pleasure of India will be replaced by enduring grief," he said.

Asif, however, took a complete U-turn. ““This has been initiated by India. If India is ready to back down, they have taken the initiative, we have just responded. We have been saying this that we will never initiate anything hostile towards India. But if we are attacked, we will respond. If India backs down, we will definitely wrap up these things. But as long as we are under fire, we have to respond," Asif told a news channel.

NEXT STOP: FAKE NEWS FACTORY

When the remarks failed to assuage their country, Pakistan turned to the fake news factory, claiming Pakistan Army had destroyed two Indian Army posts using mortars and gunfire along the LoC, inflicting heavy casualties.

But India’s Press Information Bureau (PIB) was quick to debunk it. “The video shared is old and NOT from India. The video is from sectarian clashes that took place in the year 2024, in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan," PIB in its fact-checked post stated.

A photo of the Pakistani Army’s retaliation, which is going viral on social media platforms, is also “falsely claimed" and is from a fire in Northern Ireland in March 2025. In addition to this, the report of the Indian Brigade Headquarters destroyed by Pakistan is also fake, the PIB stated.

Several U-turns and face-saving measures later, too, Pakistan could barely undo the damage, both to the terror sites and its image.

News world From Abbottabad's Neptune Spear To Operation Sindoor, Pakistani Forces Caught Off Guard Once Again