Was there a deal to pull out of Afghanistan for getting OBL?

By Thomas Lifson

A friend in the intelligence community (let's call him Harry the Spook) has an interesting theory. He writes:

As Petraeus' tendency is to wheel and deal instead of fight, I think he and the Paks cut a deal: Pak offers up OBL (remember, Pak is a nuclear power with an extensive military presence in the area and air defense radars; they had to allow our helicopters over flight rights); we withdraw from Afghanistan, as I believe our leadership wanted to do in the first place. After all, OBL is dead so why do we need to be in Afghanistan?

Everyone is happy. Obama pleases the hard left by leaving Afghanistan; Pakistan gets credit for this tremendous so-called intelligence coup, and the military can claim the superiority of their counterinsurgency strategy.

BTW, if this is such a great deal and has solved the problem of global terrorism, why are all the military bases in my area on an increased security alert? Just wondering.