MOSCOW – The US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) failed to conduct anoperation to stage a prison break for Pakistani doctor Shakil Afridi whohad helped US authorities track down al-Qaeda founder Osama bin Laden,a Russiannews agencylink>hasclaimed citing a source familiar with the situation.

The report, quoting another source, states that Washington had earlierrequested Islamabad to extradite Afridi to the US.

The source went on to suggest that Afridi’s release and extradition iscrucial for other CIA operations in Asia.

After his detention in 2011, Afridi was sentenced to 33 years forinvolvement in anti-state activities by a tribal court in 2012.

However, the sentence was later reduced.

Afridi was recently shifted, as per media reports, from Peshawar to AdialaJail in Rawalpindi due to security concerns.link>link>

However, a source familiar with the situation told Sputnik the doctor wasplaced in another jail because of the planned prison break.

His brother and lawyer have claimed the move precedes his release fromprison as he has served the minimum sentence.

The CIA, in turn, refused to comment on news that Pakistani intelligencethwarted the agency’s plan to orchestrate a prison escape for Afridi.

Also on Monday, a US Department of State official told Sputnik thatWashington hopes that the Pakistani authorities will take all necessarymeasures to ensure the safety of Shakeel Afridi.

“Pakistan has assured us that Dr Afridi is being treated humanely and is ingood health,” the official stressed.

The issue of Afridi’s release is reportedly one of the major obstacles tothe improvement of ties between the US and llink>

Soon after the death of Osama bin Laden in May 2011 in a US raid inAbbottabad, the US media reported that Afridi had contributed to thesuccess of the CIA operation by collecting DNA samples of bin Laden’sfamily by order of the intelligence agency.

Then-CIA director Leon Panetta and then-US secretary of state HillaryClinton had confirmed the doctor’s role in eliminating the terrorist, afterwhich Afridi was arrested by Pakistani authorities.