Damn, this won’t help either side in the fight with the Taliban and al-Qaeda.
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Pakistani troops fired at American reconnaissance helicopters patrolling the Afghan-Pakistan border Thursday, heightening tensions as the U.S. steps up cross-border operations in a region known as a haven for Taliban and al-Qaida militants. Pakistan’s president said only “flares” were fired.
Two American OH-58 reconnaissance helicopters, known as Kiowas, were on a routine afternoon patrol in the eastern province of Khost when they received small arms fire from a Pakistani border post, said Tech Sgt. Kevin Wallace, a U.S. military spokesman. There was no damage to aircraft or crew, officials said.
“They did not cross the border and they did not fire back,” Wallace said.
The Pakistani military disputed that assertion, saying its troops fired warning shots when the two helicopters crossed over the border – and that the U.S. helicopters fired back.
“When the helicopters passed over our border post and were well within Paskitani territory, own security forces fires anticipatory warning shots. On this, the helicopters returned fire and flew back,” a Pakistani military statement said.
In New York, Pakistan’s new president, Asif Ali Zardari, said his military fired only “flares” at foreign helicopters that he claimed had strayed across the border from Afghanistan.
Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari said his forces fired only as a way “to make sure that they know that they crossed the border line.”
“Sometimes the border is so mixed that they don’t realize they have crossed the border,” he told reporters before he began a meeting with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.
The Pakistani military said the matter was “being resolved” in consultations between the army and the NATO force in Afghanistan. A NATO statement said the militaries were “working together to resolve the matter.”
The U.S. has stepped up attacks on suspected militants in the frontier area, mostly by missiles fired from unmanned drones operating from Afghanistan. The incursions – especially a ground raid into South Waziristan by American commandos Sept. 3 – have angered many Pakistanis.
Pakistani army spokesman Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas said last week that Pakistani field commanders have previously tolerated international forces crossing a short way into Pakistan because of the ill-defined and contested nature of the mountainous frontier.
“But after the (Sept. 3) incident, the orders are clear,” Abbas said. “In case it happens again in this form, that there is a very significant detection, which is very definite, no ambiguity, across the border, on ground or in the air: open fire.”
If the Pakistani’s could actually get the job done on their own, this would not be an issue. But their intel agency (ISI) is corrupt and likely being paid off by the Taliban, which is why hardly any action is taken but the Pakistani military in Waziristan. So as usual, the United States is left to go it alone.
Read the rest here.
Related posts:
- US troops and NATO gather at Pakistan border
- Pakistan Orders Troops to Open Fire on U.S. Forces to Stop Raids
- British troops sent to Iranian border
- Syria deploys 10,000 troops across Lebanon border
- Afghan commission: US troops were fired on first
- Pakistan: Taliban war now threatens to reach beyond tribal areas
- US Implicates Pakistani Agents in Kabul Bomb Attack
- Pakistan gives US military the go ahead for Predator drone strikes on Pakistani soil
- Pakistani Army sends 60 jihadists to hell
- Al Qaeda 2nd in command calls Pakistani Army ‘Crusaders’
