The Pakistanis know that Mullah Omar is in Pakistan and are ignoring US requests to find him, two senior US military commanders told Congress on Tuesday.

Sen. Lindsey Graham questioned Vice Admiral William McRaven, who headed the raid against the Pakistani city of Abbotabad, about the presence of Mullah Omar in the country, leading McRaven to say that not only did the military believe Omar is in Pakistan, but that he believes that the Pakistani government “know” he is. This led to further speculation about Pakistan’s Inter-Service Intelligence (ISI) agency knowingly keeping the locations of US-sought militants a secret.

“At some point, as we have emphasised to the Pakistanis, we`ve got to bring pressure to bear on this insurgent safe haven. And in the end what we would hope is that they would listen to our desires for them to do that.”

“Is Pakistan`s attitude likely to change in the near term?” Senator Levin asked Admiral McRaven.

“I don`t think it is likely to change,” Admiral McRaven said. “It is both a capacity issue for the Pakistanis and I think potentially a willingness issue, recognising that the situation in Fata is difficult for them to deal with,” the admiral said.

This led to more calls from the Senators to withdraw aid from the Zardari government, following up demands from Secretary of State Hillary Clinton for “changes” if the government wanted to continue receiving US aid.