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| India-Pakistan |
| Pakistan orders troops to open fire if US raids |
| 2008-09-16 |
| (ISLAMABAD, Pakistan) Pakistan's military has ordered its forces to open fire if U.S. troops launch another air or ground raid across the Afghan border, an army spokesman said Tuesday. The orders, which come in response to a highly unusual Sept. 3 ground attack by U.S. commandos, are certain to heighten tensions between Washington and a key ally against terrorism. Although the ground attack was rare, there have been repeated reports of U.S. drone aircraft striking militant targets, most recently on Sept. 12. Pakistani officials warn that stepped-up cross-border raids will accomplish little while fueling violent religious extremism in nuclear-armed Pakistan. Some complain that the country is a scapegoat for the failure to stabilize Afghanistan. Pakistan's civilian leaders, who have taken a hard line against Islamic militants since forcing Pervez Musharraf to resign as president last month, have insisted that Pakistan must resolve the dispute with Washington through diplomatic channels. In Washington, a Pentagon spokesman said Pakistan would "correct the record" on the latest statement. "We enjoy good cooperation with Pakistan along the border," said the spokesman, Bryan Whitman. "Pakistan is an ally in the global war on terror." However, army spokesman Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas told The Associated Press that after U.S. helicopters ferried troops into a militant stronghold in the South Waziristan tribal region, the military told field commanders to prevent any similar raids. "The orders are clear," Abbas said in an interview. "In case it happens again in this form, that there is a very significant detection, which is very definite, no ambiguity, across the border, on ground or in the air: open fire." U.S. military commanders accuse Islamabad of doing too little to prevent the Taliban and other militant groups from recruiting, training and resupplying in Pakistan's wild tribal belt. Pakistan acknowledges the presence of al-Qaida fugitives and its difficulties in preventing militants from seeping through the mountainous border into Afghanistan. However, it insists it is doing what it can and paying a heavy price, pointing to its deployment of more then 100,000 troops in its increasingly restive northwest and a wave of suicide bombings across the country. After talks Tuesday with British officials in London, Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari said he did not "think there will be any more" cross-border raids by the U.S. He declined to comment on the order to use lethal force against American troops. Instead, he and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown issued a joint statement saying Afghanistan and Pakistan should lead the efforts to battle border militancy. The joint statement left out any mention of the United States. American officials have confirmed their forces carried out the Sept. 3 raid near the town of Angoor Ada but given few details of what happened. Abbas said that Pakistan's military had asked for an explanation but received only a "half-page" of "very vague" information that failed to identify the intended target. Pakistani officials have said the raid killed about 15 people, and Abbas said they all appeared to be civilians. "These were truck drivers, local traders and their families," he said. How to reverse a surge in Taliban violence in Afghanistan has become a major issue in the U.S. presidential campaign and refocused attention on the porous border with Pakistan. Pakistan's military has won American praise for a six-week offensive against militants in the Bajur tribal region that officials here say has killed 700 suspected insurgents and about 40 troops. Troops backed by warplanes killed eight more alleged militants Tuesday, officials said. In the same timeframe, there has been a surge in missile strikes apparently carried out by unmanned U.S. drones. Such attacks killed at least two senior al-Qaida commanders earlier this year. Abbas did not say when exactly the orders for Pakistani troops to open fire to prevent cross-border raids by U.S. troops were issued. He wouldn't discuss whether Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, who replaced Musharraf as army chief last year, personally took the decision or if the orders had been discussed with American officials. The spokesman also played down suggestions that the instructions had been put into practice before dawn on Monday, when U.S. helicopters reportedly landed near Angoor Ada only to fly away after troops fired warning shots. Abbas insisted no foreign troops had crossed the border and that "trigger-happy tribesmen" had fired the shots. Pakistani troops based nearby fired flares to see what was going on, he said. The U.S. military in Afghanistan said none of its troops were involved. |
| Posted by:john frum |
| #8 TOPIX > INDIAN MILITANTS ASSERT RIGHT TO FREEDOM, PROGRESS, AND SELF-DEFENSE.; + INDIAN REBELS VOW NO END TO STRUGGLE FOR RIGHTS. |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2008-09-16 20:59 |
| #7 ION IRNA > INDIAN PREZ: TRANS-BORDER INTERVENTIONS FUELED THREAT OF TERRORISM [ + LEFT-WING EXTREMISM + INSURGENCY/MILITANCY/ NAXALITE RADICALISM, etc]. THE DANGEROUS NEAR-TERM CHALLENGES FACING CONTEMPOR INDIA, espec as per Sovereignty, National Integrity, and Identity. |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2008-09-16 20:55 |
| #6 HMMMM, HMMMMM, this is interesting - PAKISTAN's GOVT in Islamabad must be aware by now that RUSSIA COVERTLY FEARS ISLAMIST NUCLEARIZATION AND ISLAMIST-INDUCED NEW BREAKUP OF RUSS AND RELATED TRANS-REGIONAL DESTABILIZATIONS [China, India, etc], and that RUSS WANTS TO SET UP A RAPID REACTION CENTRAL ASIAN/CAUCASIA MIL SECURITY ALLIANCE-ORG WID ITS FORMER CENTRAL ASIA SSRS [Kazakh, Uzbeks, Taijiks, etc.] AS PER SCO-CSTO, indicative as per Russ latent fears of its own anti-US Muslim-Islamist Allies [IRAN]. Pakistan also has its MilPol ties wid CHINA + NORTH KOREA. IMO PAKISTAN may be trying to redo GEORGIA CONFLICT except vv CHINA, NOT RUSSIA > Iff so, the question then becoms WILL NUCLEAR CHINA, FACING ITS OWN INTERNAL MUSLIM/ISLAMIST THREAT, OVERTLY OR COVERTLY DESIRE AND TOLERATE A FORMAL = PERMAN US-NATO/EU MIL PRESENCE IN SOUTH-/SW ASIA [+ JAPAN + SOKOR, etal US Allies]??? TSARIST/KIEVAN RUSSIA, the post-1917 Revol + Cold War USSR, + now post-COLD WAR/USSR RUSSIA had all contin to proclaim their historical EURO-CENTRICITY > CHINA, on the other hand, DOES NOT. CHINA WILL INTERPRETE A FORMAL = PERMAN US-NATO/EU MIL PRESENCE IN PAKISTAN = SOUTH ASIA AS A DE FACTO THREAT TO ITS INTERESTS. |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2008-09-16 20:48 |
| #5 Moose? Why would the ISI authorize strikes on their own tool? |
| Posted by: Frank G 2008-09-16 20:35 |
| #4 It still amounts to the same situation as if the DEA and the FBI both raid a drug house at the same time. While they may argue over who is in charge, the drug house is still going to be out of business. That is, the US and Pakistan may shoot in each other's direction, but the Taliban and al-Qaeda will be in the middle of the gunfight. |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2008-09-16 20:03 |
| #3 Go ahead. Stock up on body bags, though. |
| Posted by: Parabellum 2008-09-16 19:43 |
| #2 on Brit Hume's show: Adm Mullen is traveling to Pakland after the Baghdad turnover. The Paks are now, you guessed it, backing down from these claims. They say the AP quoted the Pak General "out of context". Heh. More likely, Mullen wants to give him the rundown of the consequences of such an action and the blowhards backed down |
| Posted by: Frank G 2008-09-16 18:40 |
| #1 Good. |
| Posted by: Nimble Spemble 2008-09-16 18:01 |