US and Pakistani ground forces exchanged fire across the Afghanistan-Pakistan border yesterday, the latest in a series of incidents that has ratcheted up diplomatic tension between the two allies.
No casualties or injuries were reported after Pakistani forces shot at two US helicopters from a Pakistani border post. US and Pakistani officials clashed over whether the American helicopters had entered Pakistan.
The incident follows a US campaign of attacks on militant targets inside Pakistan, including a September 3 US commando raid on a village compound in South Waziristan. Islamabad has protested those strikes and warned it would defend itself.
"Just as we will not let Pakistan's territory be used by terrorists for attacks against our people and our neighbors, we cannot allow our territory and our sovereignty to be violated by our friends," Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari said in New York on Thursday.
But in Washington, Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman insisted the helicopters had not entered Pakistan. He described the incident as "troubling" and called on Islamabad for an explanation.
"The flight path of the helicopters at no point took them over Pakistan," he said. "The Pakistanis have to provide us with a better understanding of why this took place."
According to Pakistan's military, its soldiers fired warning shots at two US helicopters after they intruded into Pakistani airspace. The US military said the helicopters were protecting a patrol about one mile inside Afghanistan when Pakistani forces opened fire.
Yesterday's confrontation followed a dispute earlier this week over reports of a downed US drone in Pakistan. Pakistani officials said a small unmanned American aircraft crashed in Pakistan, but US officials denied it, saying a drone went down in Afghanistan and was recovered.
The rugged border region between Afghanistan and Pakistan is seen by Washington as critical to its fight against al Qaeda and the Taliban. The Bush administration considers Pakistan an ally in counterterrorism but US officials say Islamabad has not done enough against militants there.
The uncertain border also complicates efforts, making it difficult for forces to determine when they are in Afghanistan or Pakistan, both US and Pakistani officials concede.
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, after meeting Zardari yesterday, said she believed he was strongly committed to fighting militants.
"We talked about how we might assist Pakistan in doing what it needs to do, but I think there is a very strong commitment. And after all, it is the same enemy," she said in New York on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly.
Reuters