U.S. President Barack Obama ordered the commando raid that killed terrorist leader Osama bin Laden after deciding the risks were outweighed by the possibility "of us finally getting our man" following a decade of frustration, he said in a television interview broadcast Sunday.

The helicopter raid "was the longest 40 minutes of my life," Obama told CBS' 60 Minutes, with the possible exception of when his daughter Malia became sick with meningitis as an infant.

U.S. President Barack Obama says the Pakistani government has indicated it had a "profound interest" in finding out what kinds of support networks Osama bin Laden might have had while in hiding in Pakistan. (Charles Dharapak/Associated Press)Monitoring the commando raid operation in the White House Situation Room a week ago, Obama said he and top aides "had a sense of when gunfire and explosions took place" halfway around the world, and knew when one of the helicopters carrying Navy SEALs made an unplanned hard landing.

"But we could not get information clearly about what was happening inside the compound," he said.

Obama said the decision to order the raid was very difficult, in part because there was no certainty that bin Laden was at the compound, and also because of the risk to the SEALs.

"But ultimately, I had so much confidence in the capacity of our guys to carry out the mission that I felt that the risks were outweighed by the potential benefit of finally getting our man," he said.

Bin Laden had 'some sort of support network' in Pakistan

Public opinion polls have shown a boost in Obama's support in the days since the raid.

In the interview, Obama said that as nervous as he was about the raid, he didn't lose sleep over the possibility that bin Laden might be killed. Anyone who questions whether the terrorist mastermind didn't deserve his fate "needs to have their head examined," he said.

Obama said bin Laden had "some sort of support network" inside Pakistan to be able to live for years at a high-security compound in Abbottabad, a city that houses numerous military facilities. But he stopped short of accusing Pakistani officials of harbouring the man who planned the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks that killed nearly 3,000.

"We don't know who or what that support network was. We don't know whether there might have been some people inside of government, people outside of government."

He said the U.S. wanted to investigate further to learn the facts, "and more importantly, the Pakistani government has to investigate."

Obama said that since the Sept. 11 attacks, "Pakistan has been a strong counter-terrorism partner with us" despite periodic disagreements.

Access to wives

The president was guarded in discussing any of the details of the raid, and offered no details that have not yet been made public.

The administration has offered shifting accounts of the events that unfolded in the 40 minutes the Navy SEALs were inside bin Laden's compound, most recently saying the terrorist mastermind was unarmed but appeared to be reaching for a weapon when he was shot in the head and chest.

Appearing on several American networks Sunday, national security adviser Tom Donilon said the U.S. has asked the Pakistani authorities for access to people whom the SEALs left behind in the compound, including three of bin Laden's wives. The U.S. also wants access to additional materials collected there, he said.

Officials have said the SEALs took voluminous computerized and paper records when they choppered out of bin Laden's compound. .