Posted on 11/26/2011 11:04:28 AM PST by edpc
ISLAMABAD (AP) The Pakistani government has demanded the U.S. vacate an air base within 15 days that the CIA is suspected of using for unmanned drones.
The government issued the demand Saturday after NATO helicopters and jet fighters allegedly attacked two Pakistan army posts along the Afghan border, killing 24 Pakistani soldiers.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
Given Pakistan's history of duplicity, I seriously doubt it was unprovoked.
Inform formally that Pakistan is on dangerous ground.
The Pakistani government has given the US fifteen days to vacate an airfield in Balochistan province after an alleged cross-border attack which killed at least 24 Pakistani soldiers.
The attack on a military checkpoint in northwest Pakistan also wounded at least a dozen soldiers. A spokesman for the NATO-led alliance in Afghanistan confirmed on Saturday that it was "highly likely" the alliance's aircraft killed Pakistani soldiers.
"Such cross-border attacks cannot be tolerated any more. The government will take up this matter at the highest level and it will be investigated"
- Masoud Kasur, governor of Khyber
"Close air support was called in, in the development of the tactical situation, and it is what highly likely caused the Pakistan casualties," General Carsten Jacobson, a spokesman for the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), told the Reuters news agency.
The incident prompted Pakistan to summon the US ambassador in Islamabad, lodge a protest with NATO, and shut a vital supply route for NATO troops fighting in Afghanistan.
The Pakistani government also gave the US fifteen days to vacate Shamsi air base. Pakistan made a similar demand earlier this year, following the raid which killed Osama bin Laden.
The decision came after Yousuf Raza Gilani, the Pakistani prime minister, called an emergency meeting of his military chiefs. The foreign ministry also summoned Cameron Munter, the US ambassador in Islamabad, to "lodge a strong protest" against the attack.
"The foreign secretary conveyed to the US ambassador that the unprovoked attack by NATO/ISAF aircrafts on border posts in which 24 Pakistani troops lost their lives and another 13 were injured had deeply incensed the government and the people of Pakistan," the ministry said in a statement.
Munter issued a brief statement on the incident, saying that he "regret[s] the loss of life of any Pakistani servicemen" and promising to work with Pakistan to investigate.
A Pakistani government official said the dead from Friday night's attack in the Mohmand tribal area included two officers.
Taliban fighters
The checkpoint that was attacked had been recently set up in the Mohmand tribal area by the Pakistan army to stop Taliban fighters holed up in Afghanistan from crossing the border and staging attacks, said two government administrators in Mohmand, Maqsood Hasan and Hamid Khan.
NATO supply trucks and fuel tankers bound for Afghanistan were stopped at Jamrud town in the Khyber tribal region near the city of Peshawar hours after the raid, officials said.
"We have stopped NATO supplies after receiving orders from the federal government," said Mutahir Hussain, a senior administration official in Khyber. "Supply trucks are being sent back to Peshawar."
Pakistan is a vital land route for 49 per cent of NATO's supplies to its troops in Afghanistan, a NATO spokesman said.
The incident occurred a day after US General John Allen met Pakistani Army Chief of Army Staff General Ashfaq Pervez Kayani to discuss border control and enhanced co-operation.
Worsening relations
Friday's attack is expected to further worsen US-Pakistan relations, already at one of their lowest points in history, following a tumultuous year that saw the bin Laden raid, the jailing of a CIA contractor and US accusations that Pakistan backed an attack on the US Embassy in Kabul. An
increase in US drone strikes on armed groups in the last few years has also irritated Islamabad, which says the campaign kills more Pakistani civilians in the border area than fighters.
Washington disputes that, but declines to discuss the drone campaign in detail.
"This is an attack on Pakistan's territorial sovereignty," said Masoud Kasur, the governor of Pakistan's northwestern Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province.
"Such cross-border attacks cannot be tolerated any more. The government will take up this matter at the highest level and it will be investigated."
Source:
Al Jazeera and agencies
ping
More: Pakistan reportedly set to review diplomatic, military, intelligence links with US & NATO - @SkyNewsBreak
They're already there.
Worth a shot all the same.
Technically Pakistan is a sovereign country that we don’t claim to have a beef with, we call them “allies” in the War on Terror after all. They have every right not to let us use that air base.
In truth we give Pakistan tons of foreign aid and military aid (and international legitimacy) knowing very well that much of its government supports the terrorists.
It is about time to end the charade anyway, don’t you think?
"We should at least talk to them."
A sensible leader with a brain would determine that Pakistan is an enemy of America and whatever allies we’re left with. Pull the plug on ALL foreign aid and get our forces back here to defend this nation.
Monroe Doctrine!
I would say align with India, but seeing how this administration does business, I wouldn’t trust this administration.
I would say align with India, but seeing how this administration does business, I wouldn’t trust this administration.
It is about time to end the charade anyway, dont you think?
Looks like the incident that could put Imran Khan into the Pakistan leadership. Could the troops from Iraq AND Pakistan be home for Christmas? Soon to be followed by the troops in Afghanistan.
Some of what will also end along with the "charade:"
- Influence over their nuclear arsenal.
- A role in the delicate situation with India.
- Utilization of the major supply line to the Afghan theater.
- The abilility to hunt down Jihadist VIPs and kill them in their sleep.
Disengagement isn't as simple as it may seem.
Obama’s not done eating his waffle.
Can their common political and strategic interests over ride their religious animosity?
MAYBE.
We’re about 8-9 years overdue to leave Afghanistan. We should have ended the punitive expedition phase with the Taliban deposed and OBL lost around Tora Bora and probably moved to Iran or Pakistan. Said “screw up again, and we’ll be back to screw you up worse”, and gotten out, having never started the meals on wheels nation building nonsense we’ve mostly been doing since. That stuff doesn’t work with savages.
If we plan to continue operations in Afghanistan, we must have Pakastan allowing us to use the ground routes into Afghanistan through Pakistan. We cannot supply our troops effectively by air only.
If Pakistan stops us from crossing their land, we won’t have any choice but to abandon or serverely curtail operations in Afghanistan. This gives Mr. Obama an excuse to pull out, which he knows will be popular with the American public that is tired of the war. I smell politics here.
Do you know Pakistan is our ally?
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