Pakistan Furious Over Border Incident

It seems to me (and I have to stress I am no expert, just a layman) that our “war against terrorism” seems to be fought by two powers: the US, and the UK. Everyone else pays lip service, sits in their armchairs and tells us how we should be doing things.

I won’t dispute that other nations do what they can. Some nations do more than is necessary, and it is to be commended. Other nations though, say they’re working towards a more secure world, but in actuality don’t have the balls for the fight. My own opinion here, but Pakistan is one of them.

Difficulties for Pakistan range from the mundane (how can they tell the US and UK to f*** off their land) to the quite serious such as coalition planes bombing guerillas (supposed al-Qaeda) and killing 11 Pakistani soldiers instead. Possibilities spring to mind:

• The guerillas in question are in fact the Pakistani troops, mistaken by coalition forces;
• The guerillas in question are in fact the Pakistani troops, period; (if so, that’s a bloody big problem)
• The pilots had awful aim; (difficult when a lot of bombs are guided in, laser-guided as the articles quoted go on to say)
• The pilots were given wrong information by coalition forces on the Afghan side of the border;
• It was just one big accident;

Occam’s Razor: all things being equal, the simplest answer is probably the right answer. It was a big accident?

CNN reports:

The U.S. military said it carried out an airstrike and fired against “anti-Afghan forces” shortly after they attacked coalition forces in Afghanistan’s Konar province on Tuesday. The military statement did not say where the airstrike occurred, but stressed that coalition ground forces did not cross into Pakistan.

So American forces didn’t cross into Pakistan. They had been attacked by guerillas, who had fled back to Pakistan (it begs the question of course, why not just tell the Pakistan military who can then take care of the problem? we’ll get to that later).

CNN again:

The official said Pakistani military officials worked with the U.S. forces to track the militants as they fled across the border into Pakistan. He said the mission was permitted under the rules of engagement which allow “hot pursuit” across the border of suspected militants when locations are verified.

So the Pakistani military was involved, they knew where the militants were. They were working directly with American forces, and yet out of all this, Pakistani military forces were killed. More and more I tend to believe these militants attacking American forces were in fact Pakistani military forces, rogue or not.

We hear more and more about how Pakistan’s military vaunted and mighty as it is supposed to be, daren’t go into parts of Pakistan, because of the tribal nature of the area. Why not? The Americans have done it in Afghanistan, as have the Brits, doesn’t seem to be a problem if you treat the tribes with respect and honesty. So what’s wrong with Pakistan?

Why are continuing this fallacy that Pakistan is helping us in the war on terrorism? News reports all tell us that tribes in those Pakistan lawless areas are sheltering al-Qaeda, giving them refuge, helping them against our military. So what gives? Why can’t Pakistan do anything?

Read the rest of the CNN article, it does go on to explain that American and Pakistan forces work together a lot, and the Pakistan cooperates with the US on many issues in the area. Frankly, to my way of thinking, they could be doing a whole lot more, especially for the amount of money and military equipment they are getting from the coalition.