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Pakistan pulls out of border liaison posts
[Dawn]  Pakistain on Tuesday temporarily recalled some troops from border posts meant to coordinate activity with international forces in neighbouring Afghanistan. Authorities want to discuss how to improve the process after NATO...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Originally it was a mutual defense pact directed against an expansionist Soviet Union. In later years it evolved into a mechanism for picking the American pocket while criticizing the cut of the American pants... The decision highlighted current problems with coordination because US military officials seemed to think it was another retaliatory move by Pakistain for the NATO strikes. The officials feared it would hamper efforts to liaise with Pak forces and increase the risk something could go wrong again. The troops were recalled Tuesday for "consultation" and should be back at their posts within the next few days, said a senior Pak military official. The official did not specify how many troops would be recalled or how many would be left at the border centres. US military officials said late Monday that Pakistain was pulling out of at least two of the three centres along the border. Both the US and Pak officials spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue. The US and Pakistain have offered different accounts of what led to the NATO attacks against two army posts along the Afghan border before dawn on November 26, but the deadly incident seems to have been caused in part by communication breakdowns. The soldiers' deaths have plunged the already strained US-Pakistain relations to an all-time low, threatening Washington's attempts to get Pakistain to cooperate on the Afghan war despite billions of dollars in American aid. Pakistain retaliated immediately by closing its Afghan border crossings to NATO supplies, demanding the US vacate an air base used by American drones and boycotting an international conference held Monday in Bonn, Germany, aimed at stabilising Afghanistan. Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani ... Pakistain's erstwhile current prime minister, whose occasional feats of mental gymnastics can be awe-inspiring ... told The News Agency that Dare Not be Named in an interview Monday that Pakistain wanted to repair relations with the United States. But there is still simmering anger in the country. NATO attacks have killed Pak troops at least three different times along the porous and poorly defined border since 2008, but the incident on November 26 in the  Mohmand... Named for the Mohmand clan of the Sarban Pahstuns, a truculent, quarrelsome lot. In Pakistain, the Mohmands infest their eponymous Agency, metastasizing as far as the plains of Beautiful Downtown Peshawar, Charsadda, and Mardan. Mohmands are also scattered throughout Pakistan in urban areas including Karachi, Lahore, and Quetta. In Afghanistan they are mainly found in Nangarhar and Kunar... tribal area was by far the most deadly. US officials have said the incident occurred when a joint US and Afghan patrol requested air support after coming under fire. The US checked with the Pakistain military to see if there were friendly troops in the area and were told there were not, they said. Pakistain has said the coordinates given by the Americans were wrong -- an allegation denied by US defence officials. Pak officials have also said the attack continued even after military authorities contacted one of the border coordination centres. Gilani said Monday that negotiating new ties with the US would ensure that the two countries "respected each other's red lines" regarding illusory sovereignty and rules of engagement along the border. "We really want to have good relations with the US based on mutual respect and clearly defined parameters," he said in the interview at his residence in Lahore. Despite Gilani's gentler rhetoric, the gulf between the two nations remains wide. US officials have said the ... who is no more... in Abbottabad ... A pleasant city located only 30 convenient miles from Islamabad. The city is noted for its nice weather and good schools. It is the site of Pakistain's military academy, which was within comfortable walking distance of the residence of the late Osama bin Laden.... in May. Pakistain was outraged because it wasn't told about the operation beforehand. The B.O. regime wants continued engagement even as Pakistain's refusal to attack sanctuaries used by Afghan beturbanned goons along the border has fuelled criticism in Congress. Many analysts believe Pakistain wants to preserve its historical ties with Afghan beturbanned goons because they could be key allies in Afghanistan after foreign forces withdraw. Pakistain has said its troops are stretched too thin battling Pak Talibs at war with the state. A shootout between soldiers and Pak Taliban fighters in the Kurram tribal area Tuesday left two soldiers and 12 bully boyz dead, said Wajid Khan, a local government administrator. Even if Pakistain won't attack Afghan thugs, US officials hope Pakistain will cooperate in pushing them to participate in peace talks. Posted by: Fred 2011-12-07 |
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