Reuters Blogs

Pakistan: Now or Never?

Perspectives on Pakistan

08:32 June 12th, 2008

The fog of war on the Pakistan-Afghanistan border

Posted by: Sanjeev Miglani
Tags: Pakistan: Now or Never, , , , , ,

Pakistani soldier near the borderPakistan’s Frontier Corps soldiers and U.S. led coalition-led troops just over the ill-defined border in Afghanistan must have been barely a few hundred yards apart on Tuesday night when 11 Pakistani soldiers were killed in an air strike that has touched off a new row between the two allies.

But their accounts of what really happened  in the frontier region of Mohmand are very different and sketchy, and to add to the confusion,  there is a third version from the Pakistan Taliban.

The Americans are saying they retaliated after coalition troops came under small arms fire and rocket propelled grenade fire about 200 yards inside Afghanistan’s Kunar province during an operation that had been previously coordinated with Pakistan.

The coalition fired artillery, and then used drones to locate more “anti-Afghan forces”, launched air strikes until the “threat was eliminated”.  The coalition also said that they informed the Pakistan Army that troops were being attacked from a wooded area near the Pakistani border checkpoint where the Pakistani Frontier Corps troops were killed.

Tribesmen check the torn clothes of a man killed by U.S. air strikeWrong, the Pakistan Army is saying. The trouble, according to Pakistani officials, began on Tuesday after Afghan troops tried to set up a post on a mountain ridge in a contested part of the frontier and Pakistani security forces told them to withdraw.

The Afghan forces were attacked inside Afghanistan by insurgents as they were withdrawing, the Pakistan Army said. And so they called in air strikes which hit the Pakistani Frontier Corps troops across the border.

A spokesman for the Pakistan Taliban said U.S. and Afghan forces were  setting up a position on the Pakistani side of the border,  and so its fighters launched an attack on coalition forces. Eight Taliban were killed in the U.S. bombing, it said.

So what happens now? Trust between the two allies has been broken as Reuters correspondent Zeeshan Haider says in this piece.  The role of the Frontier Corps, drawn from the Pashtun tribes in the Federally Administered Territories, has come under focus. Think tanks in Washington have raised doubts about their resolve and questioned the loyalties of these troops.

And then there is the larger political fallout of the deadliest air strikes in recent days. The lawyers’ ”long march” to Islamabad for the reinstatement of judges fired by President Pervez Musharraf may turn into an anti-American rally following the air strike.

Passions are already running high against Musharraf his main supporter, America,  and it won’t be long before it gets focused into an anti-American rally with demands for justice for the deaths of the soldiers.
 

26 comments so far

This comment is for Neon,

Although I understand the reasoning behind your comments against the Pakistani Muslims who claim they are Superior to India, Afghanistan and USA on their own home Turf when it comes to fighting a Defensive war, they are actually weaker than the Nepalis who are being Destroyed in Guerilla warfare by the Maoists with their own weapons and tactics Bahahaha.

I agree with most of your comments and views but seems you were a little confused when Kabir brought up the issue”(Rant)” on how they are rightfull owners and Inventors of Harappa and Mohenjaro on the river Sindh Indus Valley. Pakistanis are actually are remotly connected let alone Decendants since all those sites are from the Vedic Era. When the Aryans and Indians Merged in Indus, these sights were formed where transfer of Knowledge and wealth was made. Also these sites are still young compared to the Dwarka and other Sites In India which are carbon dated back to around 9,000 to 12,000 years. The Inventors of these sites are not Balochis, Turks or Persians, rather Vedics from ancient India since Charriots, Shiva Lingas and Swastikas were found during excavations. Indian borders reached as far as Russia before Modern day Invasions from Mughals “Modern”(1200 years).

Just thought about getting a topic going with someone who is able to debate.

Anyways Shalom

- Posted by AlexanderDynamite

Neon - Hats off to you sir for blowing away these barbaric people and their crimes committed under the veil of islam.

Cheers
Islamic Lampoon

- Posted by Islamic Lampoon

Dear Neon
Great words man, I appreciate your understanding and answering the terror child.
Your knowledge is waw, great.
I never had such an answer to the Terrorist Pakistanis. He is hidden somewhere, they are of no match to reality.
Yes, the only resolution for END of terror is to disarm Pakistan and let it be destroyed by itself.
Pakistan is the mother of all Troubles in the world and it is like cancerous gland that needs to be neutralized by every means.
But, let me tell you that Pakistan is afraid of Afghanistan and they misuse from the shabby situation we have here, otherwise there is no need for others to end this terrany, barbaric, satanic and Terror breeding cockroaches.
One more tip is that Punjabi are avenging us for they are actually the illegal breeds came to existence by our adventures during the course of history.
Go ahead with it and make them be ashamed of their deeds. They claim to be the glory of Islamic past civilizations, but the attrocities they commit against Afghans, is worse than Israel commiting against Palastinians.

I admire your knowledge and undrestanding of the Core of all problems.

Good luck and keep going, I have saved a copy of your comments with me and be sure that i will forward it to all my friends.

Love you man.
Down to the Dark force of Terror.

- Posted by Mir

Five days come to pass, where the heck is Kabir Das?

Neon ;~D

- Posted by Neon

Three days come to pass, where on Earth is Kabir Dass?

- Posted by Neon

Dear Kabir,

You mean you actually need two days to respond to my little old post? When you hit the books, try and avoid edited material or literature written by your fellow nationals, for they’re generally designed to dumb you down to the simpleton you’ve become. They’re a little like fine whisky… the more you drink it, the better Pakistan looks…

Neon

- Posted by Neon

Post Your Comment

*
To prove you're a person (not a spam script), type the security word shown in the picture. Click on the picture to hear an audio file of the word.
Click to hear an audio file of the anti-spam word

House Rules:
  • We moderate all comments and will publish everything that advances the post directly or with relevant tangential information
  • We try not to publish comments that we think are offensive or appear to pass you off as another person, and we will be conservative if comments may be considered libelous information.