Posted on 06/12/2008 3:18:34 AM PDT by Straight Vermonter
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (AP) — The U.S.-led coalition in Afghanistan released footage Thursday of a skirmish with militants that Pakistan claims resulted in an airstrike on one of its border posts that killed 11 of its troops.
Pakistan has lodged a strong diplomatic protest, saying the bombing of the Gorparai post in the Mohmand frontier region on Tuesday was a "completely unprovoked and cowardly act."
But Pakistani and U.S. officials have given widely differing accounts of an event that threatens to further sour relations between key allies in Washington's war on terror.
To support its version, the coalition on Thursday took the unusual step of releasing excerpts of a video shot by a surveillance drone circling above the mountainous battle zone.
The grainy, monochrome images show about a half-dozen men firing small arms and rocket-propelled grenades from a ridge at coalition troops off-camera in the valley below.
According to the voiceover in the video, the ridge is in Afghanistan's Kunar province, about 200 yards from the Pakistan border and close to the Gorparai checkpoint.
Neither the checkpoint nor any other structures are visible in the video excerpts.
The voiceover says the coalition forces were on a reconnaissance mission and returned fire as they tried to break contact and move to a point where a helicopter could pluck them to safety.
The video shows the "anti-Afghan militants" moving to a position identified as inside Pakistan and the impact of a bomb which the voiceover says killed two of them.
The survivors then fled into a ravine, where three more bombs were dropped, nearly three hours after the clash began. The voiceover said all the militants were killed.
One of the bombs fell off screen, and U.S. officials said about a dozen bombs were dropped in all.
On Wednesday, U.S. diplomats offered apologies for the reported casualties. But the Pentagon insisted that the drone footage of the bombings showed they hit their intended targets.
Defense Department press secretary Geoff Morrell said it was too early to know whether the strike killed the 11 Pakistani troops.
"Every indication we have is that this was a legitimate strike against forces that had attacked members of the coalition," he said.
Pakistan army spokesman Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas gave a different account.
Abbas said the fighting broke out after Afghan government soldiers who had occupied a mountaintop position in a disputed border zone Monday acceded to a Pakistan request to withdraw.
"They were on their way back and they were attacked by insurgents in their own territory," Abbas said.
He said the Afghans then called in coalition airstrikes, which hit the Pakistani Frontier Corps post across the border.
The anti-terror alliance with Washington is already unpopular among Pakistanis, whose newly elected civilian government is negotiating with some militants in hopes of curbing a surge in violence. Western officials fear peace deals could give more space for Taliban and al-Qaida militants to operate.
Factually incorrect. US diplomats expressed regret for the deaths but did explicitly NOT apologize.
Ping
“threatens to further sour relations between key allies”
Since when did Pakistan become a key ally? All I see is Pakistan protecting AlQueda, Bin Laden and telling us to take a hike.
Pakistan has always been a key ally, given that it shares borders with Afghanistan. Just because its not a reliable ally, doesn’t mean they’re not key...
However, the Paki government is not in control of the tribal areas, or for that matter, the army in that area.
I think we’re in the right here, but we do have to go through the diplomatic rigamarole: Pakistan complains, we express sympathy, etc.
Just so you know, many of these predator missions originate from bases inside Pakistan.
Pakistan is not a real ally. They are playing both sides of the fence. In reality, it was they who were primarily responsible for the Taliban. They also let Saudi-funded madrassas flourish in their country—making it even harder to control their people. The whole alliance US-Paki thing is a big sham as far as I’m concerned; almost as big as the US-Saudi alliance.
Hello Gentlemen
The tale of the tape shows the Paki's caught in a pack of lies, (oh and caught with some bombs too).
You are correct. It is well known that the Paki government helped Bin Laden to escape from Tora Bora to the Paki provences.
Pakistan’s blathering is simply for home consumption.
Saudis use their "petrodollars" to fund madrassas all over the world, and fund mosque-building in the US. Many of "their" petrodollars originate from US gas pumps.
In the case of Massachusett's mosque-building, they also receive financial support/relief from local government.
Our military really needs some better video equipment.
Pakistani’s=Owned
Dont f*ck with the US you filthy moon god worshipers. Good riddance.
“The survivors then fled into a ravine, where three more bombs were dropped, nearly three hours after the clash began. The voiceover said all the militants were killed.”
Anyone want to guess whose phone was ringing during the 3 hour interval?
I’m guessing they messed with the quality to not let people know what our capabilities are. I’ve seen predator video from 10 years ago that was better.
ping
The troops likely interfered with a drug transaction. The Pakistan military is up to its neck in drug trafficking in Afghanistan and has been for years.
US releases border strike footage
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The Pentagon says the militants crossed from Afghanistan to Pakistan
The US has released video excerpts of a controversial air strike in the Afghan-Pakistani border region which Pakistan says killed 11 of its soldiers.
The US said that the footage proves that US forces were legitimately targeting pro-Taleban militants.
It argued that its forces had acted in self-defence after coming under attack in clashes with pro-Taleban militias.
Pakistan's military said earlier that the soldiers had died as a result of an "unprovoked and cowardly act".
The BBC's Martin Patience in Kabul says it is unusual for the US to release video footage of its operations and indicates that the military has come under great pressure to justify the airstrike.
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The grainy, monochrome images - taken by an unmanned drone - show a small group of men firing small arms and rocket-propelled grenades from a ridge at coalition troops who were off camera in the valley below.
The voiceover on the footage said that the ridge was in the Afghan province of Kunar, about 182m (200 yards) from the Pakistan border.
"It is clear there are no structures or (Pakistani) outposts in the impact area," the voiceover said.
It said that coalition forces were on a reconnaissance mission in the area at the time of the attack and were waiting for a helicopter to pluck them to safety.
The video showed "anti-Afghan militants" moving to positions it said were inside Pakistan and the impact of a bomb which the voiceover said killed two of them.
The survivors then fled into a cave, the video voiceover said, where three more bombs were dropped nearly three hours after the clash started. The voiceover said all the militants were killed and that about 12 bombs were dropped in all.
Earlier, the US state department described the deaths of Pakistani soldiers in the air attack as regrettable, and said there was a need for better communication.
 A hillside appeared to have been stripped bare by fighting
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The incident took place on Tuesday night at a border post in the mountainous Gora Prai region of Mohmand, one of Pakistan's tribal areas, across the border from Kunar province.
The Pakistani government summoned the American ambassador to protest in person about the disputed attack.
It comes at a time of tension between Pakistan and the US over how to deal with militants in border areas, the BBC's Kim Ghattas reports from Washington.
"Every indication we have at this point is that this was indeed a legitimate strike in defence of our forces after they came under attack," coalition spokesman Geoff Morrell told reporters.
Sovereignty
Expressing regret, the US state department said the incident was a reminder that "better cross-border communications between forces is vital".
The 11 Pakistani soldiers were buried on Wednesday in the north-western city of Peshawar.
A Pakistani army statement said the incident had "hit at the very basis of co-operation" with the US.
Prime Minister Gilani condemned the deaths in parliament saying that Pakistan's sovereignty was at stake.
Funerals have been held for the 11 soldiers who died
A spokesman for a pro-Taleban militant group in Pakistan said it had launched an attack on US and Afghan troops trying to set up a border control post.
In Peshawar, a relative of the one of those wounded in the fighting said that US troops had opened fire on both tribespeople and Pakistani soldiers.
"Then suddenly bomber aircraft came and started bombing," Seed Aman told The Associated Press.
Lawless border
There is increasing anger in Pakistan at US strikes on its territory which have killed more than 50 people this year, says the BBC's Barbara Plett in Islamabad.
Taleban fighters have a strong presence in the border areas of the tribal districts and local administrators have little power there.
There is rising frustration among Nato and Afghan troops at Pakistani efforts to negotiate peace deals with pro-Taleban militants on its side of the border.
Afghan and US-led forces accuse Islamabad of not doing enough to deny Taleban militants a hiding-place in Pakistan's tribal areas and to stop them from infiltrating the border.
Pakistan denies the accusations, saying it has lost about 1,000 soldiers fighting militants in the tribal border areas.
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