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US error led to Pakistani deaths
AMERICAN officers gave the wrong co-ordinates to their Pakistani counterparts as they sought clearance for the air strike that killed 24 friendly troops on November 26.NATO and US officials voiced regret but have refused to apologise until an investigation is complete into the incident near the Afghan border, which triggered a crisis in US-Pakistan relations. Officials previously offered varying accounts of the event as they sought to shift blame. A senior Pakistani military officer said that a border co-ordination unit - established to avoid exactly such a tragedy - was given incorrect details of a suspected Taliban position. ''The strike had begun before we realised the target was a border post,'' he said. ''The Americans say we gave them clearance but they gave us the wrong information.'' American officers have not disputed this Pakistani account. The American pilots had been confident in their targets as they flew out of the night sky, towards a mountain ridge that marked the border with Pakistan. Afghan and US commandos hunting Taliban training camps inside the eastern edge of Afghanistan had called in air support as they came under fire from the border. The pilots believed that the co-ordinates had been checked with a Pakistani officer and the Apache attack helicopters and lone AC-130 gunship were given the go-ahead to unload their deadly payload. But as dawn arrived it became clear that a terrible mistake had been made. Twenty-four Pakistani soldiers lay dead and their border posts were a smoking ruin, unleashing a wave of anti-American anger in Pakistan, which has halted co-operation in the fight against al-Qaeda and Taliban militants. Posted by: tipper 2011-12-04 |
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