Pakistan’s military issued an uncompromising rejection Monday of last month’s United States military report on a contentious border exchange of fire that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers, dealing a fresh blow to American hopes of reviving a troubled strategic relationship.
In a statement, Pakistan’s military press office described the American account of the Nov. 26 exchange as “factually not correct,” accused the United States of failing to share information “at any level,” and rejected any responsibility for the bloody debacle, in which American AC-130 gunships flew two miles into Pakistani airspace to return fire after Pakistani troops attacked a joint American-Afghan ground patrol across the border in Afghanistan.
It was the Pakistani military’s first public comment on the American report since immediately rejecting it at the time of the report’s release, nearly a month ago. In it, United States military investigators described a chain of errors, delays and conflicting protocols between American and NATO troops that ultimately prevented the United States warplanes from identifying the Pakistanis as friendly forces until 24 were dead and another 13 injured. It also ascribed blame to Pakistan, saying the military had failed to inform NATO of the location of new military posts along the long, often poorly demarcated border.
Pakistan’s military refused to cooperate with the American investigation, which was led by Brig. Gen. Stephen Clark of the Air Force, claiming that previous American probes into disputed border attacks had been biased. The Pakistani military published its own report on Monday, 25 pages long and described in the title as "Pakistan’s perspective" on General Clark’s report.
The military rejected the American criticisms outright on Monday, describing them as “unjustified and unacceptable,” adding that the United States and NATO had “violated all mutually agreed procedures” for border operations.
The episode has enflamed anti-American sentiment in Pakistan and hurt a strategic relationship already on life-support since the American military raid that killed Osama bin Laden last May.
In retaliation, Pakistan blocked NATO supply lines passing through its territory, which are variously estimated to account for between 40 and 60 per cent of military supplies reaching Western troops in Afghanistan.
Pakistani military officials say that when the supply lines are re-opened, NATO military goods will be subject to an as-yet undetermined transit tariff.
The crisis has also seen Islamabad freeze diplomatic relations in public, although American official say that cooperation continues at lower levels. Pakistani lawmakers are currently engaged in a policy review aimed at reorganizing the relationship based on a hard-nosed assessment of each side’s interests.
The review is under way at a Parliamentary committee and is expected to be completed by end January, a senior American official said.
The crisis has also affected C.I.A. operations in Pakistan’s tribal belt. In December the Pakistani military ejected American operations from an airbase in western Baluchistan Province used to mount the drone strikes against militant targets.
The drone attacks stopped in December but resumed on Jan. 10. The latest strike took place on Monday morning in North Waziristan, in a village called Deegan. Witnesses told The Associated Press that a drone fired several missiles at a house, killing four people.
Press reports in Pakistan have suggested that Hakimullah Mehsud, the leader of the Pakistani Taliban was killed in a Jan. 12 C.I.A. strike. But a senior Pakistani intelligence official said Monday there was “no confirmation one way or the other.”
The troubled relationship has also hurt tentative American efforts to explore possible peace talks with Afghanistan’s Taliban insurgents, as a major troop drawdown slated for 2014 draws near.
The State Department’s envoy to the region, Marc Grossman, who is leading the effort, recently postponed a planned trip to Islamabad after Pakistani officials declined to meet.
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