U.S. apologizes to Pakistan
Two paramilitary troops killed in mistaken attacks
KABUL, Afghanistan – The U.S. apologized Wednesday for the deaths of two Pakistani paramilitary troops and the wounding of four others in a cross-border airstrike by U.S. helicopters that prompted Islamabad to close two vital supply routes used by the U.S.-led force in Afghanistan.
The latest flare-up comes as the Obama administration steps up public and private pressure on Pakistan to crack down on the Afghan Taliban and allied groups. The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday that a new White House report to Congress says bluntly that Pakistan’s civilian and military leaders have been unwilling to attack al-Qaida and other terrorist groups.
Officials in Washington said that intensified strikes inside Pakistan by manned and pilotless aircraft – and reportedly also by U.S.-trained Afghan fighters – are an effort to pressure Pakistan to move against the Haqqani network, an insurgent group based in Pakistan’s North Waziristan tribal area.
“The message is clear: If you won’t act, we will,” said one U.S. official in Washington.
Wednesday’s apology by the U.S. ambassador to Pakistan, Anne Patterson, came after the U.S.-led force in Afghanistan announced that a joint investigation into the Sept. 30 incident conducted with the Pakistani military found that the U.S. helicopters mistook the paramilitary troops for insurgents.
“We extend our deepest apology to Pakistan and the families of the Frontier Scouts who were killed and injured,” Patterson said.
There was no immediate official announcement from Islamabad about whether the two statements would be enough to persuade Pakistani authorities to reopen the supply routes from the port city of Karachi into landlocked Afghanistan.
A senior Pakistani official, however, said that he thought the border crossings at Torkham in the north and Chaman in the south would be reopened to vehicles hauling ISAF supplies.
Suspected Islamic militants torched dozens of trucks carrying ISAF supplies Wednesday and killed at least one driver as they waited in Quetta, the capital of Baluchistan Province, for the Chaman border crossing to reopen, Pakistani authorities said. It was the seventh such attack on trucks carrying ISAF goods since the two border crossings were closed.