We must really need that supply line flowing.
ISLAMABAD — The United States apologized yesterday for a recent helicopter attack that killed two Pakistani soldiers at an outpost near the Afghan border, saying American pilots mistook the soldiers for insurgents they were pursuing.
How about apologizing for all the wasted civilians and such?
Hello?
The apology, which came after a joint investigation, could clear the way for Pakistan to reopen a key border crossing that NATO uses to ship goods into landlocked Afghanistan. Pakistan closed the crossing to NATO supply convoys in reaction to the Sept. 30 attack.
Related: Pakistan doesn’t reopen border despite US apology
Probably the same sources and analysts that said the closure would never happen.
Suspected militants have taken advantage of the impasse to launch attacks against stranded or rerouted trucks, including two yesterday in which gunmen torched at least 55 fuel tankers and killed a driver. “We extend our deepest apology to Pakistan and the families of the Frontier Scouts who were killed and injured,’’ said the US ambassador to Pakistan, Anne Patterson.
Pakistan initially reported that three soldiers were killed and three wounded in the attack, but one of the soldiers who was critically injured and initially reported dead survived, said Major Fazlur Rehman, the spokesman for the Frontier Corps.
Pakistani soldiers fired at the two US helicopters before the attack, a move the investigation team said was probably meant to notify the aircraft of their presence after they passed into Pakistani airspace several times.
“We believe the Pakistani border guard was simply firing warning shots after hearing the nearby engagement and hearing the helicopters flying nearby,’’ said US Air Force Brigadier General Tim Zadalis, NATO’s director for air plans in Afghanistan. Zadalis led the investigation. “This tragic event could have been avoided with better coalition force coordination with the Pakistan military.’’
The head of US and NATO forces in Afghanistan, General David Petraeus, also expressed his condolences, saying in a statement that “we deeply regret this tragic loss of life and will continue to work with the Pakistan military and government to ensure this doesn’t happen again.’’
Pakistan moved swiftly after the attack to close the Torkham border crossing, which connects northwestern Pakistan with Afghanistan through the famed Khyber Pass. The closure has left hundreds of trucks stranded alongside the country’s highways and bottlenecked traffic heading to the one route into Afghanistan from the south that has remained open. There have been seven attacks on NATO supply convoys since Pakistan closed Torkham.
NATO officials have insisted that neither the attacks nor the border closure have caused supply problems for NATO troops since hundreds of trucks still cross into Afghanistan each day through the Chaman crossing in southwestern Pakistan and via Central Asian states.
NATO can't tell the truth about anything.
But reopening Torkham is a priority for NATO because it is the main crossing in Pakistan, the country through which NATO ships the majority of its supplies into Afghanistan.
Both US and Pakistani officials have predicted Torkham would reopen soon, and the apologies issued could provide Pakistan with a way to back down.
I'll bet it reopens tomorrow for Slow Saturday.
And isn't an apology a back down?
Nice distortion, AmeriKan media. You guys suck.
Reopening the border could reduce the frequency with which militants have attacked NATO supply convoys in recent days, although such attacks occurred regularly even before Torkham was closed.
Yeah, and we rarely if ever read about them -- which means this is a serious stoppage of the war effort. The daily drumbeat on the issue from the agenda-pushing paper proves it.
The helicopter attack and the border closure have exposed the frequent strains in the alliance between Pakistan and the United States. But Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell downplayed the possibility of lasting effects. “There are incidents which create misunderstandings, there are setbacks, but that does not mean the relationship — this crucial relationship to us — is in any way derailed,’’ Morrell said Tuesday.
Even if the border is reopened, underlying tensions will remain in the US-Pakistan relationship, especially over Pakistan’s unwillingness to go after Afghan Taliban militants on its territory with whom it has strong historical ties and who generally focus their attacks on Western troops, not Pakistani targets.
Ungrateful AmeriKa. All part of the plan.
The United States has responded by dramatically increasing the number of CIA drone strikes in Pakistan’s tribal belt, including two yesterday that killed 11 militants in North Waziristan, according to Pakistani intelligence officials speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media.
And the FORTHCOMING APOLOGY?
In the first attack, a US drone fired two missiles at a house near Miran Shah, the main town in North Waziristan, killing six militants, said the officials.
Six more innocent souls the victim of mass murder.
About two hours later, missiles struck a house near Mir Ali, another major town in North Waziristan, killing five militants, said the officials.
So any land not under water gets marked for a missile?
--more--"
The forgotten flood coverage says more about the Muslim-hating newspaper than anything I could ever type.
Update: U.S. Slams Pakistani Effort Against Militants
Hey, they didn't accept our crocodile apology so....
