More trouble between the US and Pakistan. After 28 Pakistani troops killed in a border fight with NATO troops Pakistan tells the US it has 15 days to leave a Pakistani base that was used for drone flights. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45442885/ns/world_news-south_and_central_asia/#.TtFfkVbDBko Pakistan demands US vacate air base after deadly strikes Pakistan blames NATO forces for killing up to 28 Pakistani soldiers at military outposts The Pakistani government has demanded the United States vacate an air base within 15 days after blaming NATO air forces for the fatal attack on military outposts in northwest Pakistan. The government issued the demand Saturday after NATO helicopters and jet fighters allegedly attacked two Pakistan army posts along the Afghan border, killing up to 28 Pakistani soldiers and plunging U.S.-Pakistan relations deeper into crisis. Pakistan initially retaliated by shutting down vital NATO supply routes into Afghanistan, used for sending in nearly half of the alliance's shipments by land. Islamabad outlined its latest demand in a statement it sent to reporters following an emergency defense committee meeting chaired by Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani. Shamsi Air Base is located in southwestern Baluchistan province. The U.S. is suspected of using the facility in the past to launch armed drones and observation aircraft to keep pressure on Taliban and al-Qaida militants in Pakistan's tribal region. In a statement sent earlier to reporters, the Pakistan military blamed NATO for Friday's attack in the Mohmand tribal area, saying helicopters "carried out unprovoked and indiscriminate firing." Masood Kasur, the governor of Pakistan's northwestern Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province, said the raid was "an attack on Pakistan's territorial sovereignty." "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," he said. The attack comes as relations between the United States and Pakistan — its ally in the war on militancy — are already strained following the killing of al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden by U.S. special forces in a secret raid on the Pakistani garrison town of Abbottabad in May. "Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani has condemned in the strongest terms the NATO/ISAF attack on the Pakistani post," Pakistan foreign ministry spokeswoman Tehmina Janjua said in a statement. "On his direction, the matter is being taken (up) by the foreign ministry in the strongest terms with NATO and the U.S.," the spokesman said. 'Cannot be tolerated' The powerful Chief of Army Staff, General Ashfaq Pervez Kayani, said in a statement issued by the Pakistani military that "all necessary steps be under taken for an effective response to this irresponsible act." Two military officials told Reuters that up to 28 troops had been killed and 11 wounded in the attack on the Salala checkpoint, about 1.5 miles from the Afghan border in the Baizai area of Mohmand, where Pakistani troops are fighting Taliban militants. However, a Pakistan Army statement put the death toll at 24 with 13 injured. It said that Pakistan troops had "responded immediately in self defense to NATO/ISAF's aggression with all available weapons." The army statement said NATO helicopters and fighter aircraft were involved in the attack, which took place around 2 a.m. Saturday local time (4 p.m. Friday ET). The commander of NATO-led forces in Afghanistan, General John R. Allen, said he had offered his condolences to the family of any Pakistani soldiers who "may have been killed or injured" during an "incident" on the border. A spokesman for the force declined further comment on the nature of the "incident" and said an investigation was proceeding. It was not yet clear, he said, whether there had been deaths or injuries. The raid is the largest and most serious incident of its kind. A similar incident on Sept 30, 2009, which killed two Pakistani troops, led to the closure of one of NATO's supply routes through Pakistan for 10 days. U.S. regret The U.S. embassy in Islamabad also offered condolences. "I regret the loss of life of any Pakistani servicemen, and pledge that the United States will work closely with Pakistan to investigate this incident," ambassador Cameron Munter said in a statement. Colonel Gary Kolb, spokesman for the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force in Kabul, said the aircraft were taking part in a strike that was a coordinated effort with ISAF, Pakistani military and the Pakistani border authorities, NBC News reported. He said they had responded to small arms fire, according to NBC News. Asked to confirm that it was retaliatory, he said yes. ISAF was still determining the exact circumstances. "This has the highest priority to ensure that we get all the facts straight," Kolb said, NBC News reported. He noted that even if some of supply routes through Pakistan were closed, there were "contingencies built into the system" to deal with these types of disruptions. About 40 Pakistani army troops were stationed at the outpost, military sources said. Two officers were reported among the dead. A senior Pakistani military officer said efforts were under way to bring the bodies of the slain soldiers to Ghalanai, the headquarters of Mohmand tribal region. "The latest attack by NATO forces on our post will have serious repercussions as they without any reasons attacked on our post and killed soldiers asleep," he said, requesting anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media. 40 trucks halted 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 halted the supplies and some 40 tankers and trucks have been returned from the check post in Jamrud," Mutahir Zeb, a senior government official, told Reuters. Another official said the supplies had been stopped for security reasons. "There is possibility of attacks on NATO supplies passing through the volatile Khyber tribal region, therefore we sent them back towards Peshawar to remain safe," he said. Much of the violence in Afghanistan against Afghan, NATO and U.S. troops is carried out by insurgents that are based just across the border in Pakistan. Coalition forces are not allowed to cross the frontier to attack the militants, which sometimes fire artillery and rockets across the line. American officials have repeatedly accused Pakistani forces of supporting — or turning a blind eye — to militants using its territory for cross-border attacks. The Afghanistan-Pakistan border is often poorly marked, and differs between maps by up to five miles in some places. Pakistan is a vital land route for 49 percent of NATO's supplies to its troops in Afghanistan, a NATO spokesman said. NATO apologized for that incident, which it said happened when NATO gunships mistook warning shots by the Pakistani forces for a militant attack. The attack is expected to further worsen U.S.-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 U.S. accusations that Pakistan backed a militant attack on the U.S. Embassy in Kabul. An increase in U.S. drone strikes on militants in the last few years has also irritated Islamabad, which says the campaign kills more Pakistani civilians in the border area than activists. Washington disputes that, but declines to discuss the drone campaign in detail.
The Pakistani officials are just acting macho for their public, the last thing they want is for the Afghanistan mission to end. I'm sure behind closed doors they warned everyone that they were going to release a harsh statement and probably apologized beforehand.
Theatrics, political gamesmanship, false bravado, call it what you will on the part of the government of Pakistan. It is hypocritical for them to denounce sovereignty infringement by NATO/ISAF whilst allowing other terrorist groups do so on a daily basis. But, those groups operate largely because the ISI is playing both sides of the war: fighting with us and fighting against us so Afghanistan doesn't become too chummy with India. According to Wikipedia, about 40k civilians+troops have been killed since 2001 in our War on Terror. Most of the Pakistanis killed are pawns of a great game. They are poor, uneducated, and ignorant of their role in this war. Maybe it's the Pakistani side of the blood in me, but it irks me to see not one comment on the 25+ human beings killed. Better them than one of our guys, I guess. My thoughts and prayers go out to the families and friends of those killed. I would hope most of us can discern who's pulling the strings in Pakistan and who's being screwed over. Contemptuous comments should be aimed at the civilian government and ISI, not these troops. @Nook It is unwise to think Pakistan won't do a "damn thing". Reading the following link might give you a better grasp of how much a nuisance Pakistan can become. You might realize that it is America that can't do a damn thing about Pakistan's double gaming. The same way the powers that be over there accept the loss of innocent Pakistani life for destabilizing Afghanistan, the powers that be over here accept the loss of American lives and taxpayer money for their own purposes.
They need to pull every troop out of that region. The war in afgan is unwinnable. I want to see what happens to Iraq when us pulls out.
We need to pull out of Pakistan and drastically reduce or forces in Afghanistan. Bin Laden's dead, and the Afghan branch of Al-Qaeda is all but dead, it's time to start handing Afghanistan back to the Afghan people.
A couple of points. Concerning the 25+ dead people, I believe that no one has commented on the loss because we as a country are so removed from the situation. The government and media have gone out of their way to make everyone numb to the situation. As for Pakistan the government, they are limited. Yes, they can be a major nuissance, but that is the extent of it. Unfortunately over the last 10 years the middle east has been dehumanized.
Depends what we do, if we continue the way we are I think there's more fighting and either the Taliban or another despotic government takes over when we pull out. If we leave now, I think Afghanistan is caught in between the conflicting interests of the Taliban, the current govt, Pakistan, and India, leading to more conflict. If we reduce our pressence in Afghanistan to a couple of military bases and slowly return power to the Karzai government, and don't interfere with Karzai-Taliban negotiations, then I think we see the best result, an semi-democratic country that satisfies no outside powers, but staisfies the Afghans and keeps them out of harm's (and the Talibna's) way.
Sounds to me like there will be fighting either way. And how a foul compromise between corrupt current leaders and the Taliban "satisfies the Afghans" is not evident to me. Human rights are already being violated on a daily basis in Afghanistan, do you see any indication that a Karzai/Taliban negotiated government would bring any improvement to that at all?
I am curious since you are a non-American advocating a hawkish position on Afghanistan. As a German citizen do you support continued NATO involvement in the Afghanistan and if the US were to cut back on troops would you support having NATO troops, including German troops, step in? My own opinion is that a large scale withdrawl is inevitable. I don't see the political support among the US and NATO countries to maintain a large scale operation in Afghanistan. I'm with Da_juice as the most possible solution is to gradually transition to the Karzai government with a likely negotiated settlement with the Taliban. That solution isn't the ideal solution but I don't think an ideal solution is possible with Afghanistan.
Not sure I support a hawkish position. I just see no hope for Afghanistan either way. That country (and Pakistan) are just completely messed up. The whole tribal culture there, combined with this idiotic Islamism, leaves no room for hope, until Islam in that country is reformed by some miracle.
I feel the same, which is why I'd like to see us drastically reduce our presence there. Afghanistan is in the same position it's been for the past 30 years, the cities want to progress and modernize, and the rural areas want to continue the way they've been living for centuries (similar to Saudi Arabia) I don't see Afghanistan coming to the same page anytime soon, the only way for Afghanistan to truly have peace is for the rural areas to catch up, and hopefully as the world continues to shrink that happens.
Probably better to just move out and let them do whatever. Only thing to remember is that last time that was done, numerous terror camps popped up there, so it may not only be an internal Afghan issue, but affect the world.
