Obama: US 'Would Repeat bin Laden Raid'

The killing of Osama bin Laden by US special forces has strained US-Pakistan relations, but President Obama says he would do it again if another militant leader was discovered there. "Our job is to secure the United States," Obama said in an interview with the BBC. "We are very respectful of the sovereignty of Pakistan. But we cannot allow someone who is actively planning to kill our people or our allies' people—We can't allow those kind of active plans to come to fruition without us taking some action."

Obama also told the BBC that he hopes the killing of bin Laden would serve as a "wake-up call where we start seeing a more effective cooperative relationship" with Pakistan. On Afghanistan, he said that the troop surge had knocked the Taliban "back on its heels," but that a lasting peace ultimately means "talking to the Taliban." Obama begins a European tour today. (More Osama bin Laden stories.)