WASHINGTON: The Pentagon has said that a book by a US Navy SEAL who participated in the Abbottabad raid contains sensitive classified material but it will not harm America’s relations with Pakistan.

“Sensitive and classified information is contained in the book,” chief Pentagon spokesman George Little told a news briefing in Washington.

But when a reporter suggested that the book makes disclosures that could hurt US relations with Pakistan, Mr Little noted that the two countries had reached “a new place” in their relations.

“We are on better footing these days, so I don’t see any effect this one book has on US-Pakistani relations. We certainly hope it doesn't have that effect,” he said.

The Pakistani government, he said, shared the US view that terrorists were a threat to both countries. “Scores of Pakistanis have regrettably been killed by terrorists inside Pakistan. And we, of course, have suffered losses, as well, inside Pakistan and elsewhere, from al Qaeda and from other terrorist groups operating along the Afghan-Pakistan border,” he noted.