Team Infidel
Forum Spin Doctor
New York Times
September 26, 2008
Pg. 8
By Eric Schmitt
WASHINGTON — Pakistani and American ground troops exchanged fire along the border with Afghanistan on Thursday, a top American military official said, ratcheting up tensions as the United States increases its attacks against militants in Pakistan’s restive tribal areas.
The clash started after the Pakistanis fired shots or flares at two American helicopters that Pakistan says had crossed its border.
The two American OH-58 Kiowa reconnaissance helicopters were not damaged and no casualties were reported.
But American and Pakistani officials agreed on little else about what happened.
American and NATO officials said that the two helicopters were flying about one mile inside Afghan airspace to protect an American and Afghan patrol on the ground when the aircraft were fired on by troops at a Pakistani military checkpoint near the Tanai district in Khost Province. The officials said small-caliber arms were used.
In response, the American ground troops shot short bursts of warning fire, which hit well shy of the checkpoint, and the Pakistanis fired back, said Rear Adm. Gregory Smith, a spokesman for the United States Central Command.
But a spokesman for the Pakistani Army, Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas, said Pakistani forces fired warning shots at the American aircraft after they crossed into Pakistan’s territory in the area of Saidgai, in the Ghulam Khan region of North Waziristan. “On this, the helicopters returned fire and flew back,” General Abbas said. The general’s statement did not address the account of ground fire.
Local residents said that one of the two helicopters had entered inside Pakistan territory by about a mile, while the other hovered on the Afghan side of the border.
“When our forces fired warning shots, we were a little scared of a possible retaliatory fire from the helicopters,” said one of the residents, Hajji Said Rehman Gorbaz. “But we were happy to see the helicopter flying back into Afghanistan. We were happy that our forces fired at the helicopter.”
Pakistan’s president, Asif Ali Zardari, said Thursday that his nation’s military had fired only flares at the helicopters, seeming to draw a distinction with warning “shots,” which usually refers to bullets or other ordnance that could more seriously damage the helicopters.
“They are flares,” Mr. Zardari said as he sat down to meet Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice at the United Nations. He said the flares would alert the pilots that they had crossed the border, which he said is rugged and poorly marked.
Ms. Rice agreed that the border between Pakistan and Afghanistan was “very, very unclear.”
But the encounter drew immediate protest from Pentagon officials in Washington. “The flight path of the helicopters at no point took them over Pakistan,” a Pentagon spokesman, Bryan Whitman, told reporters.
Mr. Whitman said United States and NATO military officials were speaking to their Pakistani counterparts to determine what happened and to ensure there was no repeat, adding, “The Pakistanis have to provide us with a better understanding of why this took place.”
General Abbas, the Pakistani spokesman, said the clash had been reported to NATO headquarters in Kabul and was under investigation by Pakistani and NATO officials.
Military officials and diplomats said the episode showed there was a risk of a much more serious, and lethal, misunderstanding along the border.
Pakistani civilian leaders have denounced an incursion by American Special Operations forces into Pakistan on Sept. 3, which was authorized under orders given by President Bush in July, and the Pakistani Army has vowed to defend its border.
Yousaf Raza Gilani, Pakistan’s prime minister, told reporters on Wednesday, “We will not tolerate any act against our sovereignty and integrity in the name of the war against terrorism.”
The United States says its goal is to stop attacks on troops in Afghanistan by Al Qaeda and by Taliban militants based in Pakistan.
The latest clash on Thursday comes after a week of claims by Pakistani intelligence officials that American helicopters had strayed across the border, and that an American remotely piloted surveillance aircraft had crashed, apparently because of a mechanical failure, in Pakistani territory.
American officials denied these claims, saying they were being manufactured by Pakistani officials in response to rising anti-American sentiment in Pakistan after the increased American activities in the border area.
Thom Shanker contributed reporting from New York, Salman Masood from Islamabad, Pakistan, and Ismail Khan from Peshawar, Pakistan.
September 26, 2008
Pg. 8
By Eric Schmitt
WASHINGTON — Pakistani and American ground troops exchanged fire along the border with Afghanistan on Thursday, a top American military official said, ratcheting up tensions as the United States increases its attacks against militants in Pakistan’s restive tribal areas.
The clash started after the Pakistanis fired shots or flares at two American helicopters that Pakistan says had crossed its border.
The two American OH-58 Kiowa reconnaissance helicopters were not damaged and no casualties were reported.
But American and Pakistani officials agreed on little else about what happened.
American and NATO officials said that the two helicopters were flying about one mile inside Afghan airspace to protect an American and Afghan patrol on the ground when the aircraft were fired on by troops at a Pakistani military checkpoint near the Tanai district in Khost Province. The officials said small-caliber arms were used.
In response, the American ground troops shot short bursts of warning fire, which hit well shy of the checkpoint, and the Pakistanis fired back, said Rear Adm. Gregory Smith, a spokesman for the United States Central Command.
But a spokesman for the Pakistani Army, Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas, said Pakistani forces fired warning shots at the American aircraft after they crossed into Pakistan’s territory in the area of Saidgai, in the Ghulam Khan region of North Waziristan. “On this, the helicopters returned fire and flew back,” General Abbas said. The general’s statement did not address the account of ground fire.
Local residents said that one of the two helicopters had entered inside Pakistan territory by about a mile, while the other hovered on the Afghan side of the border.
“When our forces fired warning shots, we were a little scared of a possible retaliatory fire from the helicopters,” said one of the residents, Hajji Said Rehman Gorbaz. “But we were happy to see the helicopter flying back into Afghanistan. We were happy that our forces fired at the helicopter.”
Pakistan’s president, Asif Ali Zardari, said Thursday that his nation’s military had fired only flares at the helicopters, seeming to draw a distinction with warning “shots,” which usually refers to bullets or other ordnance that could more seriously damage the helicopters.
“They are flares,” Mr. Zardari said as he sat down to meet Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice at the United Nations. He said the flares would alert the pilots that they had crossed the border, which he said is rugged and poorly marked.
Ms. Rice agreed that the border between Pakistan and Afghanistan was “very, very unclear.”
But the encounter drew immediate protest from Pentagon officials in Washington. “The flight path of the helicopters at no point took them over Pakistan,” a Pentagon spokesman, Bryan Whitman, told reporters.
Mr. Whitman said United States and NATO military officials were speaking to their Pakistani counterparts to determine what happened and to ensure there was no repeat, adding, “The Pakistanis have to provide us with a better understanding of why this took place.”
General Abbas, the Pakistani spokesman, said the clash had been reported to NATO headquarters in Kabul and was under investigation by Pakistani and NATO officials.
Military officials and diplomats said the episode showed there was a risk of a much more serious, and lethal, misunderstanding along the border.
Pakistani civilian leaders have denounced an incursion by American Special Operations forces into Pakistan on Sept. 3, which was authorized under orders given by President Bush in July, and the Pakistani Army has vowed to defend its border.
Yousaf Raza Gilani, Pakistan’s prime minister, told reporters on Wednesday, “We will not tolerate any act against our sovereignty and integrity in the name of the war against terrorism.”
The United States says its goal is to stop attacks on troops in Afghanistan by Al Qaeda and by Taliban militants based in Pakistan.
The latest clash on Thursday comes after a week of claims by Pakistani intelligence officials that American helicopters had strayed across the border, and that an American remotely piloted surveillance aircraft had crashed, apparently because of a mechanical failure, in Pakistani territory.
American officials denied these claims, saying they were being manufactured by Pakistani officials in response to rising anti-American sentiment in Pakistan after the increased American activities in the border area.
Thom Shanker contributed reporting from New York, Salman Masood from Islamabad, Pakistan, and Ismail Khan from Peshawar, Pakistan.