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Pakistan troops open fire on US helicopters
Ed Harris, Evening Standard26.09.08
Tensions between Pakistan and America rose sharply today after the US military said US and Afghan forces had exchanged gunfire with Pakistani troops.
A five-minute gun battle broke out on the border with Afghanistan after Pakistani soldiers fired warning shots at two US helicopters. No one was hurt and the US maintained its troops did not cross the border from Afghanistan.
Cross-border action by US-led forces has angered Pakistan in recent weeks. The latest took place along the Pakistani border with the eastern Afghan region of Khost, a hotbed of militant groups.
Forces from the US-led coalition and the Nato-led International Security Assistance Force patrol the frontier but Pakistan-has been angered by missile strikes by its Western ally and operations across the border in pursuit of insurgents. The US made a commando raid on 3 September on a village in South Waziristan.
At the United Nations in New York last night, Pakistan's president Asif Ali Zardari said: "Just as we will not let Pakistan's territory be used by terrorists for attacks against our people and our neighbours, we cannot allow our territory and our sovereignty to be violated by our friends."
In Washington, a Pentagon spokesman insisted the helicopters had not entered Pakistan. He described the gun battle 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 its airspace.
The US military said the helicopters were protecting a patrol about one mile inside Afghanistan.
Reader views (2)
I suggest Pakistan should be isolated. We should most certainly withdraw the half billion we gave to help fight terrorism. They have clearly taken the money and stuck two fingers up at us.
- Frank, Home Counties, England.
So, it starts. I have always predicted a war between Pakistan and the western nations. Most people in Pakistan are peace-loving, but unfortunately segments on the border with Afghanistan have provided safe havens for the worst of the world's terrorists. The border area of Pakistan is only nominally part of the country, since the central government has no control over it. The Pakistani military doesn't have the strength nor the resolve to solve the problem of the terrorists. Some in the military sympathize with them. Until the terrorists realize that they have no more safe havens, you'll never get rid of the problem they pose.
- Phil Jones, London UK
