Nearly a week after U.S. commandos killed Osama bin Laden in Pakistan, the U.S. wants to talk to the three widows of the former al Qaeda leader.
The three women and eight of bin Laden's children have been in custody with Pakistani authorities, away from the CIA, since the Navy SEAL raid on May 2.
U.S. National Security Adviser Tom Donilon told NBC's "Meet the Press" on Sunday that Washington had seen no evidence that the government was colluding with bin Laden. But he said that Pakistani authorities "need to provide us with intelligence... from the compound that they've gathered, including access to Osama bin Laden's three wives."
Donilon also said Pakistani authorities had collected other evidence from the house which the United States wanted to "work with them on assessing." The commandos seized a large and valuable intelligence haul that included videos, telephone numbers and documents, according to U.S. officials.
Pakistan, a U.S. ally in the war on terror and the recipient of some $1.5 billion in American aid per year, is facing hard questions about how bin Laden managed to go undetected for so long.
Defence and security analyst Sunil Ram told CTV he believes Pakistan was harboring the al Qaeda leader based on his compound's location in Abbottabad.
"You're talking about a few hundred meters from the Pakistan military academy -- Pakistan's West Point. There are four major military establishments in that city. You couldn't not notice a multi-million dollar compound being built there," Ram told CTV on Sunday.
Late Sunday, two loud blasts were heard in Abbottabad, but the source of the explosions was not immediately clear. Bin Laden's compound, however, appeared to be undamaged.
Pakistan said Saturday it plans to return the family members to their countries of origin, though no country has asked for them.
Bin Laden led a life on the run, yet he kept his family close.
One of his sons, Khalid, was killed during the raid on the family compound in the northwestern city of Abbottabad. Amal Ahmed Abdullfattah, his youngest wife, was shot in the leg and initially taken to a military hospital, a Pakistani military official has said.
Abdullfattah is from the southern Yemeni province of Ibb, about 120 miles (193 kilometres) south of the capital, Sanaa. A family member there has sought a meeting with Pakistan's ambassador to Yemen to ask about her fate.
Abdullfattah told Pakistani investigators that she moved to the compound in 2006 and never left its upper floors.
Children living near bin Laden's hide-out said they never saw any Arab children or women at the compound.
"We often play cricket in a farm field but no boy from that house came here to play with us," 15-year-old Fazil Shah said as he looked toward bin Laden's home, which was guarded by troops and police.
On Monday, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani was to brief parliament on the raid, which was carried out by two dozen U.S. Navy SEALs who helicoptered across the border from Afghanistan and rappelled into the al-Qaida leader's lair.
Pakistan's army has said it had no idea bin Laden was hiding for up to six years in Abbottabad, an army town only two and a half hours' drive from the capital, Islamabad. That claim has met with skepticism from U.S. officials, who have repeatedly criticized Pakistan for failing to crack down on Islamist militants.
With files from Associated Press
