The deeply strained relationship between Pakistan and the United States appears to have taken yet another turn for the worse, in the aftermath of what Pakistan describes as an unprovoked pre-dawn attack on its forces by NATO aircraft across the Afghan border. At least 26 Pakistani military personnel, including two officers, were killed, and 14 others were wounded. Islamabad is strongly protesting the incident.
Pakistan has blocked NATO's supply routes that pass through its territory to Afghanistan, following what officials here describe as an aerial attack on its soldiers in the early hours of Saturday morning local time.
The Pakistani military says NATO helicopters and fighter jets "carried out unprovoked firing" on two of its posts in the Mohmand tribal district bordering Afghanistan. A military statement calls for "strong and urgent action" against thoseresponsible "for this aggression."
Prime Minister Yousef Raza Gilani has strongly condemned the attack, and convened an emergency meeting of senior leaders to discuss next steps.
NATO says General John Allen, commander of the International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan, is personally paying the "highest attention" to the matter. Brigadier General Carsten Jacobsen is a spokesman for the force.
"He's committed to thoroughly investigate and determine the facts. He expresses his sincere and heartfelt personal condolences to the families and loved ones of any member of the Pakistan security forces who may have been killed or injured."
The NATO force says it remains committed to improving security relations with Pakistan, including coordinating cooperation along the Afghan-Pakistan border.
That border is extremely mountainous, winding, and porous to foot traffic back and forth - posing a constant challenge for military planners on both sides. The Taliban and other militants take advantage of the nearly 2,400-kilometer-long border to carry out attacks on U.S. and NATO forces.
A similar incident happened about a year ago when international security forces accidentally killed two Pakistani soldiers. Then, too, Pakistan temporarily choked off the route on which NATO forces have depended for supplies since they began military operations against al-Qaida and the Taliban in Afghanistan following the September 11, 2001 terror attacks.
The timing of this incident may further sour the attitude of Pakistanis who already feel irritated over what they perceive as infractions against their sovereignty. In May, U.S. Special Operations swept into the Pakistani garrison town of Abbotabad, not far from the capital, to kill al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden.
Years of unmanned U.S. drone airstrikes against Pakistan-based targets have killed both militants and civilians. VoA
UPDATE: 22 DEC 2011 Department of Defense:
The investigation into the 25-26 November engagement between U.S. and Pakistani military forces across the border has been completed. The findings and conclusions were forwarded to the Department through the chain of command. The results have also been shared with the Pakistani and Afghan governments, as well as key NATO leadership.
The investigating officer found that U.S. forces, given what information they had available to them at the time, acted in self defense and with appropriate force after being fired upon. He also found that there was no intentional effort to target persons or places known to be part of the Pakistani military, or to deliberately provide inaccurate location information to Pakistani officials.
Nevertheless, inadequate coordination by U.S. and Pakistani military officers operating through the border coordination center -- including our reliance on incorrect mapping information shared with the Pakistani liaison officer -- resulted in a misunderstanding about the true location of Pakistani military units. This, coupled with other gaps in information about the activities and placement of units from both sides, contributed to the tragic result.
For the loss of life -- and for the lack of proper coordination between U.S. and Pakistani forces that contributed to those losses -- we express our deepest regret. We further express sincere condolences to the Pakistani people, to the Pakistani government, and most importantly to the families of the Pakistani soldiers who were killed or wounded.
Our focus now is to learn from these mistakes and take whatever corrective measures are required to ensure an incident like this is not repeated. The chain of command will consider any issues of accountability. More critically, we must work to improve the level of trust between our two countries. We cannot operate effectively on the border -- or in other parts of our relationship -- without addressing the fundamental trust still lacking between us. We earnestly hope the Pakistani military will join us in bridging that gap.
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