Afghans say Pakistan is in the wrong on border skirmish

Washington Post:
The Afghan police general watched on television as Pakistani soldiers solemnly saluted the coffins of 24 of their comrades who were killed in a U.S. military airstrike Saturday. 
The general stood up in disgust. “That’s the best thing America has done in 10 years here,” he said. 
While U.S. officials from the war zone to the White House offered contrite condolences to the families of the dead and scrambled to repair the tattered relationship with Pakistan, Afghan officials have taken a tougher line. Frustrated by a Taliban insurgency they are convinced is supervised by and stationed in Pakistan, they have expressed little remorse, even accusing Pakistan of exaggerating the gravity of the situation to deflect attention from its own meddling in Afghanistan. 
Afghan officials said the airstrike — which followed an operation carried out by U.S. Special Operations forces and Afghan army commandos — was justified because the troops came under fire first from a Pakistani border post. “We have absolutely nothing to apologize for,” a senior official said.
... 
The Pakistani high dudgeon seems out of place.  The reaction seems to be based on an emotional reaction to the event rather than attempting to get the facts before making charges.   How can it be so sure that its troops did not mistakenly fire on the Afghan troops first?  How can they be so sure that the Taliban did not fire on the Afghan troops from a position near the Pakistani units?  The fact is they cannot.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Should Republicans go ahead and add Supreme Court Justices to head off Democrats

29 % of companies say they are unlikely to keep insurance after Obamacare

Bin Laden's concern about Zarqawi's remains