NATO admits it bombed Pakistan and killed 24+ Pakistani soldiers

[Stardust]

The BBC reports:

Nato: 'Highly likely' we caused Pakistan troop deaths

Brigadier-General Carsten Jacobson says the incident will be thoroughly investigated.

It is "highly likely" that Nato aircraft were behind a deadly overnight raid on a Pakistani border checkpoint, a Nato spokesman has told the BBC.

Brigadier-General Carsten Jacobson said Nato was investigating how the incident occurred and sent condolences.

Pakistani officials have responded with fury to the incident, which they say killed at least 24 soldiers.

Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani called it "outrageous" and convened an emergency meeting of the cabinet.

Pakistan's government promptly closed supply routes across its territory to Nato in Afghanistan. There are reports of some trucks on the main routes being told to turn back.

Investigation

The night-time attack took place at the Salala checkpoint, about 1.5 miles (2.5 km) from the Afghan border, at around 02:00 local time (21:00 GMT).


Gen Jacobson said a combined force of Afghan and Nato troops were in the area when "a tactical situation developed on the ground", though he gave no more details.

He said close air support was called in, and "we're aware it's highly likely this caused casualties".

It is a measure of the huge sensitivities involved here that the American general in charge of the Nato-led force in Afghanistan has already expressed his deep concern, even as Nato tries to gather information.

Following previous incidents, efforts have been made to improve cross-border co-operation over how to deal with the movements of militants back and forth - something that's crucial to the Nato-led campaign. Indeed, Gen Allen has recently been in Islamabad for talks on the matter.

But relations between Washington and Islamabad have also soured over a string of wider tensions, including in the aftermath of the US raid into Pakistan in May that killed Osama Bin Laden.

Even so, while a complicated relationship, it is also a critical one - not least as Pakistan is a vital supply line for Nato-led forces.

He said it was a high priority for Nato to "find out what happened".

The Pakistani army said in a statement that two border posts had been attacked by helicopters and fighter aircraft, killing 24 people and leaving 13 injured.

It said Pakistani troops fired back as best they could.

Chief of Army Staff General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani had strongly condemned the "blatant and unacceptable act", and demanded "strong and urgent action be taken against those responsible for this aggression", the military said.

[Vasall des Midas]

I demand immediate nuclear retaliation. Teach those NATO bastards a lesson.

[GMantis]

But of course the Pakistanis don't hate the US because of cases like, it's because they hate freedom

[dead0man]

They hated us a long time before this.....and at this point does anybody really care?  The PRC can have these schizophrenic asshats.

[patrick1]

One would think that there is gun camera or cockpit footage that exists and has already been gone over, no?  From my amateur opinion, Id think that some people were really playing loose with the rules of engagement and/or they were taking fire from a position very close to the the checkpoint and screwed up.

[phk]

One would think that there is gun camera or cockpit footage that exists and has already been gone over, no?  From my amateur opinion, Id think that some people were really playing loose with the rules of engagement and/or they were taking fire from a position very close to the the checkpoint and screwed up.

[© Tweed the Younger]

good idea

[Senator Clarence]

Well sh**t boys, here comes WWIII

[dead0man]

One would think that there is gun camera or cockpit footage that exists and has already been gone over, no?  From my amateur opinion, Id think that some people were really playing loose with the rules of engagement and/or they were taking fire from a position very close to the the checkpoint and screwed up.

Very very close.  link

[dead0man]

And the Pakistan military approved the strike.  link

While the investigation has only just begun into last weekend's ISAF airstrikes in Mohmand that resulted in the deaths of 24 Pakistani troops, the initial findings indicate that the attacks were cleared by the Pakistani military, which said none of its troops were operating in the area. The Wall Street Journal has the story:

According to the initial U.S. account from the field, the commandos requested airstrikes against the encampment, prompting the team to contact a joint border-control center to determine whether Pakistani forces were in the area, a U.S. official said.
The border-control center is manned by U.S., Afghan and Pakistani representatives who are supposed to share information and head off conflicts. But the U.S. and Afghan forces conducting the Nov. 26 commando operation hadn't notified the center in advance that they planned to strike Taliban insurgents near that part of the border, the official said.

When called, the Pakistani representatives at the center said there were no Pakistani military forces in the area identified by the commandos, clearing the way for the Americans to conduct the airstrikes, the U.S. officials said.

[Simfan34]

And the Pakistan military approved the strike.  link

While the investigation has only just begun into last weekend's ISAF airstrikes in Mohmand that resulted in the deaths of 24 Pakistani troops, the initial findings indicate that the attacks were cleared by the Pakistani military, which said none of its troops were operating in the area. The Wall Street Journal has the story:

According to the initial U.S. account from the field, the commandos requested airstrikes against the encampment, prompting the team to contact a joint border-control center to determine whether Pakistani forces were in the area, a U.S. official said.
The border-control center is manned by U.S., Afghan and Pakistani representatives who are supposed to share information and head off conflicts. But the U.S. and Afghan forces conducting the Nov. 26 commando operation hadn't notified the center in advance that they planned to strike Taliban insurgents near that part of the border, the official said.

When called, the Pakistani representatives at the center said there were no Pakistani military forces in the area identified by the commandos, clearing the way for the Americans to conduct the airstrikes, the U.S. officials said.

Um... okay. Gross negligence on the Pakistanis' part. Don't tell someone your forces aren't there when they are; if one sees a bunch of soldiers where no allied soldiers are supposed to be, one could logically conclude they are the enemy.

[Frodo]

At this point, I don't care if an entire Pakistani city is obliterated -the whole of Pakistan is our enemy. 

[Simfan34]

At this point, I don't care if an entire Pakistani city is obliterated -the whole of Pakistan is our enemy. 

Let's destroy their nukes first- then they can go to hell.

[Insula Dei]

At this point, I don't care if an entire Pakistani city is obliterated -the whole of Pakistan is our enemy. 

Let's destroy their nukes first- then they can go to hell.

I am lost for words.

[dead0man]

You think they should go to hell with their nukes?  That's probably better.

[Simfan34]

At this point, I don't care if an entire Pakistani city is obliterated -the whole of Pakistan is our enemy. 

Let's destroy their nukes first- then they can go to hell.

I am lost for words.

What does Pakistan do? What do they contribute? I'm not seriously advocating the destruction of Pakistan or the slaughter of civilians, but the fact that we'd be better off if they were irrelevant- and they will be relevant as long as they have nuclear weapons.

[Frodo]

Clearly that comment was over the top (for which I do apologize), but I stand with my utter lack of sympathy for Pakistan's loss.  The same nation that harbored Osama bin Ladin not ten miles from Islamabad in a plush compound practically across the street from its military academy, and bitches at the United States for having crossed the border to kill him has no standing for anyone's sympathy.  They are more an enemy than ally -does anyone here seriously disagree? 

[Simfan34]

Clearly that comment was over the top (for which I do apologize), but I stand with my utter lack of sympathy for Pakistan's loss.  The same nation that harbored Osama bin Ladin not ten miles from Islamabad in a plush compound practically across the street from its military academy, and bitches at the United States for having crossed the border to kill him has no standing for anyone's sympathy.

And then arrests the people who helped the US find them. I absolutely agree.

[Senator Clarence]

At this point, I don't care if an entire Pakistani city is obliterated -the whole of Pakistan is our enemy. 

Let's destroy their nukes first- then they can go to hell.

Amen to that

[seanobr]

The fundamental problem is not Pakistan, its policy toward Afghanistan and India, its possession of nuclear weaponry, or the fragility of its civilian government.  Rather, it is America's inability to reconcile itself to the fact that our vision for Afghanistan is divergent from and incompatible with the one Pakistan is pursuing; that no amount of persuasion, inducement, or compulsion, including the use of force, will dissuade Pakistan from its present course; and that Pakistan's conception of its self-interest will not change simply because we want it to experience the moral satisfaction of contributing to a sustainable and democratic Afghanistan.  Pakistan has very adroitly made itself indispensable to the outcome in Afghanistan, and if we intend for our withdrawal to occur through a negotiated settlement that can preserve some of what we've created in Afghanistan, we have no choice but to respect Pakistan's position and the influence it has accumulated for itself by enabling the insurgency.  In the absence of a reconciliation agreement, we are left with assuming a prolonged, intensive, and unconditional material commitment to Afghanistan's security, limiting the nature of our mission inside the country, or allowing the state to collapse, since I have no confidence in the government's ability to survive after our departure without some type of mechanism in place.  Even if an accommodation can be reached, Afghanistan's return to conflict is probably inevitable, but it would allow us to retain a certain amount of dignity before the futility of our effort there is revealed for all to see.

The only opportunity for a desirable result in Afghanistan will require Pakistan's cooperation, no matter how unsympathetic or deplorable the country may be.  Denying that reality will not change it, and the infantile rhetoric that discussing Pakistan here has a tendency to produce -- the juvenile lambasting of it is evidently a ritual -- is not a substitute for actual policy.