NATO helicopter injure Pakistanis soldiers

siegecrossbow

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Reporting from Islamabad, Pakistan—
Pakistani authorities said two NATO helicopters crossed from Afghanistan into their country's airspace Tuesday and exchanged gunfire with an army post near the border, injuring two soldiers. The confrontation came just a day after a top U.S. senator and Pakistani officials agreed that their nations would cooperate in pursuing top militants.

NATO helicopter incursions into Pakistani territory have occurred in the past, at times when coalition troops were pursuing Afghan Taliban fighters. However, the incursion Tuesday, if confirmed, came as relations between the U.S. and Pakistan have plummeted to one of their lowest points in years, after the raid May 2 by American commandos that killed Osama bin Laden in the Pakistani city of Abbottabad.

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Pakistani officials were deeply angered by Washington's decision to carry out the raid without their authorization, and have vowed to retaliate if any similar operation is carried out in the future.

On Monday, Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.), chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, met with top Pakistani military and civilian leaders in Islamabad, the capital, in an effort to revive the highly strained relationship between their two countries. After the meetings, both sides agreed to work together to track down militant leaders regarded as "high-value targets."

Pakistani army officials said soldiers at a military post near the border fired at the North Atlantic Treaty Organization helicopters after the aircraft crossed into airspace over the North Waziristan tribal region. The helicopters fired back, and in the exchange two soldiers were injured.

Local authorities said the skirmish took place sometime before 7 a.m. in the Datta Khel area, a Taliban stronghold frequently targeted by U.S. drone missile strikes. The wounded soldiers were taken to a hospital in Miram Shah, North Waziristan's largest town, local authorities said. In a prepared statement, the army said it had lodged a "strong protest" and requested a meeting with NATO officials to discuss the encounter.

At the Pentagon, spokesman Marine Col. Dave Lapan said the incident began when Forward Operating Base Tillman in Afghanistan's Paktia province received fire from nearby Pakistan. The U.S. Apache attack helicopters fired back, he said, adding that there were no American casualties.

He declined to comment on reports that the helicopters had crossed into Pakistani airspace, saying, "The incident is under investigation."

U.S. units have standing permission to respond if attacked from Pakistan.

Previous instances of NATO helicopters crossing over into Pakistani airspace have caused serious rifts in the difficult alliance maintained by Washington and Islamabad. In September, two NATO helicopters strayed into Pakistani airspace and delivered a missile strike on a border post, mistaking warning shots for hostile fire from insurgents. At least two Pakistani paramilitary troops were killed.

The Pakistani government retaliated by shutting down for 11 days a key border crossing that NATO uses to truck supplies and equipment through Pakistan and into Afghanistan. The United States later apologized for the incident. Roughly 40% of the alliance's non-weapons supplies move by truck from the Pakistani port city of Karachi to two crossings along the Afghan border.

Meanwhile, Pakistani authorities announced the arrest of a senior Al Qaeda operative in Karachi. A prepared statement issued by the military said Muhammad Ali Qasim Yaqub, a Yemeni national also known as Abu Sohaib al Makki, focused his activities along the Pakistani-Afghan border and answered to Al Qaeda's top leadership.

The statement did not indicate when Yaqub was arrested. The announcement came at a time when Bin Laden's presence in Abbottabad for five years has raised serious questions in the United States about Pakistan's commitment to taking on Al Qaeda and its allied militant groups.
 

MwRYum

Major
It could only be said that after the raid on OBL, all those things that everybody swept under the rug for so long now got blown wide open...ultimately Pakistan will need to make a choice: to continue aid and abide the likes of Taliban (plus other jihad-ist groups) for its own politka powerplay, and finally the West see such double-dealing can no longer be tolerated...

But for a country that truly possess WMD and long since walking on a tightrope of existence, should things goes south it's gonna be far more ugly than Iraq.

Well, this symbol can't use?

Ok, I edit out

Dropped in to see the rules

First of all try to use English only, since not everybody here can read Chinese, and please brush up on your English, it's pretty painful for an average human being to read "Chinglish".

Then, please have some substance for your post, one-liners commonly found in Chinese BBS sites would only make you a laughing stock here, if not damned you for spamming.
 

Scratch

Captain
Such incidents have happend in the past as well. Now after the Abottabad raid, they get a lot more recognition. In these terrains it's really difficult to tell if a chopper crossed the border by a few hundred meters or not. But I would actually say they didn't, on purpose at least, due to GPS support in the cockpit. It's just not worth the fallout to cross that little for a few insurgents.
If the choppers were fired upon beforehand of course, it's a completely clear issue. In self defense they do have the right to shoot across the border. If Pakistan abstains from bringing security to North Waziristan and willingly accepts those incidents, then they have to blame themselves. And seriously, one can't, IMO, really be too sure about who is actually manning those border posts in the FATA. And to whom the loyalty of those Frontier Corps troops really belongs.
 

龙空小三儿

Just Hatched
Registered Member
Thanks for your guidance, I remember your suggestion

Fluent use English, it's difficult for me, because I'm here for one purpose, in order to better master English, but I will study hard
 

solarz

Brigadier
It could only be said that after the raid on OBL, all those things that everybody swept under the rug for so long now got blown wide open...ultimately Pakistan will need to make a choice: to continue aid and abide the likes of Taliban (plus other jihad-ist groups) for its own politka powerplay, and finally the West see such double-dealing can no longer be tolerated...

You're assuming that Pakistan is a monolithic political entity when that is clearly not the case. There are obviously multiple factions each pursuing their own agendas in Pakistan, and the Pakistani government has only limited control.

Therefore you can't say that "Pakistan needs to make a choice". There is no choice here, just different factions all operating in the same country.
 
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