Khilafah.com

NY Times

By DECLAN WALSH

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — Pakistan's military issued an uncompromising formal rejection on Monday of the United States military's report last month on a contentious border exchange of fire that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers, dealing a fresh blow to American hopes of reviving a troubled strategic relationship.

In a statement, Pakistan's military press office described the American account of the Nov. 26 exchange as "factually not correct," accused the United States of failing to share information "at any level," and rejected any responsibility for the bloody debacle, in which American AC-130 gunships flew two miles into Pakistani airspace to return fire after Pakistani troops attacked an American-Afghan ground patrol across the border in Afghanistan.

It was the Pakistani military's first public comment on the American report since immediately rejecting it at the time of the report's release, nearly a month ago.

The American investigation, led by Brig. Gen. Stephen Clark of the Air Force, described a chain of errors, delays and conflicting protocols between American and NATO troops that ultimately prevented the United States warplanes from identifying the Pakistanis as friendly forces until 24 were dead and another 13 injured. It also ascribed blame to Pakistan, saying the military had failed to inform NATO of the location of new military posts along the long, often poorly demarcated border.

Pakistan's military refused to cooperate with the American inquiry, claiming that previous American probes into disputed border attacks had been biased. The Pakistani military published its own report on Monday, 25 pages long and described in the title as "Pakistan's perspective" on General Clark's report.

The military rejected any American criticism on Monday, describing it as "unjustified and unacceptable," and adding that the United States and NATO had "violated all mutually agreed procedures" for border operations.

Pakistani fury is a product of genuine public outrage at the killings, which American officials privately admit were largely their fault, and deep-rooted hostility to America.

But it is also driven by a desire on the part of the Pakistani military to deflect attention from the embarrassment of the American raid that killed Osama bin Laden on May 2. "They've been preparing this a long time," said a senior American official. . "It is not coming out of the blue."

In retaliation for the November killings, Pakistan has blocked NATO supply lines passing through its territory, which are variously estimated to account for between 40 and 60 per cent of military supplies reaching Western troops in Afghanistan.

Pakistani military officials say that when the supply lines are re-opened, NATO military goods will be subject to an as-yet undetermined transit tariff.

The crisis has also seen Islamabad freeze diplomatic relations in public, although American officials say that cooperation continues at lower levels.

Pakistani lawmakers are currently engaged in a policy review aimed at reorganizing the relationship based on a hard-nosed assessment of each side's interests.

The lower and upper houses of parliament are expected to debate the new policy in a special joint sitting in late January. The senior American official said the Obama administration is engaged in "strategic patience.

"They hope to come to us by early February and say 'we are ready to talk,' " he said. "We are waiting until they are ready to talk. Now they appear to be getting closer to that place."

The crisis has also affected C.I.A. operations in Pakistan's tribal belt. In December the Pakistani military ejected American operations from an airbase in western Baluchistan Province used to mount the drone strikes against militant targets.

The drone attacks stopped in December but resumed on Jan. 10. The latest strike took place on Monday morning in North Waziristan, in a village called Deegan. Witnesses told The Associated Press that a drone fired several missiles at a house, killing four people.

Press reports in Pakistan have suggested that Hakimullah Mehsud, the leader of the Pakistani Taliban was killed in a Jan. 12 C.I.A. strike. But a senior Pakistani intelligence official said Monday there was "no confirmation one way or the other."

The troubled relationship has also hurt tentative American efforts to explore possible peace talks with Afghanistan's Taliban insurgents, as a major troop drawdown slated for 2014 draws near.

The State Department's envoy to the region, Marc Grossman, who is leading the effort, recently postponed a planned trip to Islamabad after Pakistani officials declined to meet.

In Kabul, a spokesman for the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force declined to comment on the Pakistani report but stressed that hard lessons had been learned from the exchange of fire.

The force was working off the recommendations in the American report to improve cross-border coordination and "ensure this type of incident does not ever occur again," said the spokesman, Lt. Col. Jimmie E. Cummings Jr.

"U.S. & I.S.A.F. are taking these recommendations and are moving forward toward full implementation," he said.

Alissa J. Rubin contributed reporting.

< Prev		Next >