Team Infidel
Forum Spin Doctor
Atlanta Journal-Constitution
June 13, 2008 Airstrike bolsters anti-America views
By Stephen Graham, Associated Press
Islamabad, Pakistan--The top elected official in northwest Pakistan said Thursday the country should rethink its relationship with America after a U.S. airstrike that reportedly killed 11 Pakistani soldiers.
The U.S. and Pakistan remained at odds in their versions of a Tuesday night clash on the Afghan border that led to American planes dropping bombs on insurgents who had staged an attack inside Afghanistan.
President Bush's national security adviser said it was not clear exactly what happened and American officials "have not been able to corroborate" that Pakistani troops died. The U.S. "would be very saddened" if that were true, Stephen Hadley said.
U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said he had invited Afghanistan and Pakistan to be part of the investigation. "We think all the procedures were followed. But that will be for the investigation to decide. And if we need to make changes, we will," he said while attending a NATO conference in Brussels, Belgium.
The incident is presenting a stiff test for an already-strained alliance.
Haider Khan Hoti, chief minister of North West Frontier Province, a restive region next to Afghanistan where Islamic militants are strong, said the airstrike was "absolutely naked aggression."
"After condemnation, we should do some serious rethinking of the ties that we have, because on the one side in the war on terror we are expected to offer them cooperation and on the other hand our security forces are being targeted," Hoti said in Peshawar, the area's main city.
Some Pakistanis directed their anger over the airstrike at President Pervez Musharraf, who allied the country with the United States after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks on America.
In Peshawar, about 50 Islamic students brandished banners with slogans such as "America is the most terrorist country in the world" and "U.S. ally Musharraf, resign immediately." A similar gathering in the southern city of Karachi included a sign reading "Rulers and generals of Pakistan, give a tit-for-tat response to American missile attack."
In the Mohmand tribal area, where the disputed bombing occurred, tribal elder Malik Mazal Mahmood said Musharraf's "wrong policies" were to blame.
"If the Americans really consider themselves brave, then they should use ground forces, and if they do it, we will be happy to face them," he said. "Musharraf allowed Americans to kill our people, and now Americans have started killing the soldiers of Pakistan."
Others expressed satisfaction that the new government--led by opponents of Musharraf--had quickly protested the attack.
"Musharraf's government used to hide such things in the past, but the new government at least didn't do it, and rather it took a bold step by openly opposing and criticizing America," said Kawanar Sadique, a clerk at a garment factory near Lahore.
On Thursday, the U.S.-led coalition in Afghanistan released video to support its account. The excerpts, however, do not show the Gorparai border post where Pakistan said its troops died, and one explosion occurs off screen without explanation.
The grainy, monochrome images show about a half-dozen men firing rifles and rocket-propelled grenades from a ridge at coalition troops off camera in the valley below. According to the voice-over, the ridge is in Afghanistan's Kunar province, about 200 yards from the Pakistan border and close to the checkpoint.
Neither the border post nor any other structures are visible in the video excerpts shot by a surveillance drone.
June 13, 2008 Airstrike bolsters anti-America views
By Stephen Graham, Associated Press
Islamabad, Pakistan--The top elected official in northwest Pakistan said Thursday the country should rethink its relationship with America after a U.S. airstrike that reportedly killed 11 Pakistani soldiers.
The U.S. and Pakistan remained at odds in their versions of a Tuesday night clash on the Afghan border that led to American planes dropping bombs on insurgents who had staged an attack inside Afghanistan.
President Bush's national security adviser said it was not clear exactly what happened and American officials "have not been able to corroborate" that Pakistani troops died. The U.S. "would be very saddened" if that were true, Stephen Hadley said.
U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said he had invited Afghanistan and Pakistan to be part of the investigation. "We think all the procedures were followed. But that will be for the investigation to decide. And if we need to make changes, we will," he said while attending a NATO conference in Brussels, Belgium.
The incident is presenting a stiff test for an already-strained alliance.
Haider Khan Hoti, chief minister of North West Frontier Province, a restive region next to Afghanistan where Islamic militants are strong, said the airstrike was "absolutely naked aggression."
"After condemnation, we should do some serious rethinking of the ties that we have, because on the one side in the war on terror we are expected to offer them cooperation and on the other hand our security forces are being targeted," Hoti said in Peshawar, the area's main city.
Some Pakistanis directed their anger over the airstrike at President Pervez Musharraf, who allied the country with the United States after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks on America.
In Peshawar, about 50 Islamic students brandished banners with slogans such as "America is the most terrorist country in the world" and "U.S. ally Musharraf, resign immediately." A similar gathering in the southern city of Karachi included a sign reading "Rulers and generals of Pakistan, give a tit-for-tat response to American missile attack."
In the Mohmand tribal area, where the disputed bombing occurred, tribal elder Malik Mazal Mahmood said Musharraf's "wrong policies" were to blame.
"If the Americans really consider themselves brave, then they should use ground forces, and if they do it, we will be happy to face them," he said. "Musharraf allowed Americans to kill our people, and now Americans have started killing the soldiers of Pakistan."
Others expressed satisfaction that the new government--led by opponents of Musharraf--had quickly protested the attack.
"Musharraf's government used to hide such things in the past, but the new government at least didn't do it, and rather it took a bold step by openly opposing and criticizing America," said Kawanar Sadique, a clerk at a garment factory near Lahore.
On Thursday, the U.S.-led coalition in Afghanistan released video to support its account. The excerpts, however, do not show the Gorparai border post where Pakistan said its troops died, and one explosion occurs off screen without explanation.
The grainy, monochrome images show about a half-dozen men firing rifles and rocket-propelled grenades from a ridge at coalition troops off camera in the valley below. According to the voice-over, the ridge is in Afghanistan's Kunar province, about 200 yards from the Pakistan border and close to the checkpoint.
Neither the border post nor any other structures are visible in the video excerpts shot by a surveillance drone.