Pakistan Military rejects US Investigation reports of NATO strike

Pakistan Military rejects US Investigation reports of NATO strike

Pakistan’s military has rejected a US investigation into American airstrikes that killed 24 of its soldiers last month, reducing prospects of a thaw in relations. The report blamed both sides for a failure in communications that
meant two Pakistani border posts were destroyed by American aircraft.  

On Thursday, the Pentagon offered condolences, a statement of regret and for the first time admitted its forces must shoulder a share of the blame – but still fell well short of Pakistani demands for an apology.

The result looks likely to be a continued stand-off. In a terse statement issued from Pakistan’s General Headquarters on Friday, the generals said: “Pak Army does not agree with the findings of the US/NATO inquiry as being reported
in the media. The inquiry report is short on facts.”

They said they would offer a full response once the report had been received.

The Pakistani army has said its troops did nothing wrong and claimed the attack was a deliberate act of aggression. In the hours after the attack Pakistan closed its borders to NATO supplies destined for Afghanistan and announced
it was reviewing all relations with the US.

Details of the US investigation emerged on Thursday. It said a joint American and Afghan commando force was fired on first from the direction of the posts and acted “with appropriate force” in self-defence. The American troops
believed they were being targeted by Taliban insurgents.

Brig Gen Stephen Clark, an Air Force special operations officer who led the investigation, also said in a Pentagon briefing that US forces did not know that the two Pakistani outposts – spare structures built with stacked grey
stones – had been set up on the border.

The Pakistani military has disputed both points, saying its troops did not fire first and that it had passed on maps that marked where the outposts were located on a mountain ridge in the Mohmand tribal area.

However, the report admitted that NATO had wrongly told the joint mission there were no Pakistani forces in the area. Talat Masood, a retired Pakistani army general, said the investigation could have been used to build bridges
but that Islamabad seemed to have made up its mind to dig in for further concessions.

“From the Pakistani military perspective it fell short of expectations and is unacceptable from this point of view,” he said.

Short URL: https://www.newspakistan.pk/?p=7181

Posted by Ahmer Gul Khan on Dec 23 2011. Filed under Latest News, National, Pakistan, USA, World. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry