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| India-Pakistan |
| Pakistani troops fire on intruding U.S. choppers |
| 2008-09-22 |
| ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Pakistani troops fired on two U.S. helicopters that intruded into Pakistani airspace on Sunday night, forcing them to turn back to Afghanistan, a senior Pakistani security official said on Monday. It was the second such incident in a week, and reflects frayed relations with the United States over Pakistan's failure to act more forcibly against Islamist fighters in the tribal lands bordering Afghanistan. The number of missile attacks by U.S. drone aircraft in the remote tribal areas has multiplied in recent weeks. The helicopters violated the border in the area of Lowara Mandi, 40 km (25 miles) west of Miranshah, the main town in the North Waziristan tribal region, at around 9 p.m. on Sunday, the official said. There was no official confirmation. "We don't have any information on border violation by the American helicopters," Major Murad Khan, a military spokesman, said. Residents said drones had been flying overnight and early on Monday over Miranshah but did not attack. "It's really so scary, we just can't sleep when you hear them flying," said Zia-ur-Rehman, a resident of Hamzoni village near Miranshah. Pakistani troops fired on two U.S. helicopters that crossed the border at the same village, Angor Adda, a week ago, again forcing them to turn back, according to residents and security officers. Pakistan and the United States issued denials. Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari is scheduled to meet President George W. Bush on Tuesday in the United States, and is also due to attend the U.N. General Assembly. Admiral Mike Mullen, the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, held talks in Islamabad with top Pakistani officials last week. Mullen "reiterated the U.S. commitment to respect Pakistan's sovereignty," the U.S. embassy said in a statement. The United States is Pakistan's largest donor, and the dissonance between them has been a factor pushing down Pakistani shares and the rupee because Pakistan needs an inflow of dollars to rebuild rapidly depleting foreign currency reserves to prop up its ailing economy. |
| Posted by:Besoeker |
| #14 What is the value of Afghanistan to the US national interest? It's on one side of Iran. Iraq is on the other. It's south of Russia and four former Soviet republics. It's west of China. It's next door to Pakistan. |
| Posted by: Pappy 2008-09-22 22:33 |
| #13 Sounds like a - we'll stop shooting at your helo's for $$$ extortion scam. |
| Posted by: Last Breath Farm Resident 2008-09-22 19:41 |
| #12 Overland access to Afghanistan. |
| Posted by: mojo 2008-09-22 16:22 |
| #11 What is the value of Afghanistan to the US national interest? |
| Posted by: Nimble Spemble 2008-09-22 16:11 |
| #10 With USA ammo. |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2008-09-22 15:59 |
| #9 I kinda wonder if it isn't better if we just say to Binny, "OK, you get to hide in Wazoo for now, if you don't mind dodging the occasional arclight. But we got Iraq." Not if theyre using the Wazoo base to train, to launch ops in Afghanistan, and to plan ops around the world. Plus the sheer fact that Binny is out there makes it hard for us to look like the strong horse. I dont like that the chosen one has refused to be honest about the success of the surge, but about the importance of the Afghan/Pakistani front he is not wrong. |
| Posted by: liberalhawk 2008-09-22 14:58 |
| #8 When Zardari gets here Bush needs to take him to the woodshed, that is, assuming he has any control at all over the military. I think that may be the crux of the problem. I doubt very much whether the military gives a damn what Zardari tells them WRT to the Americans. They know this puts him in tight spot, and thats probably why they are doing this. |
| Posted by: liberalhawk 2008-09-22 14:54 |
| #7 If Barack Obama gets elected President, we will see a real disaster in this country. Nancy Pelosi Speaker of the House and Harry Reid Majority Leader of the Senate. The Constitution won't be worth a plug nickel. |
| Posted by: JohnQC 2008-09-22 14:44 |
| #6 I don't think highly of the honourable There, fixed it for ya, TW. This twerp hasn't been present in the Senate 30 days out of the last year. He needs a salary cut - he's overpaid to do nothing. |
| Posted by: Old Patriot 2008-09-22 13:19 |
| #5 Makes me wonder if he understands all the ramifications. No. It's part of the "Iraq is the wrong war," meme, and no more thought than that, in my opinion. Admittedly, I don't think highly of the honourable junior senator from the great state of Illinois. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2008-09-22 11:55 |
| #4 Sounds like the bad guys are beginning to get the upper hand in this war with obvious help from Pakistan. When Zardari gets here Bush needs to take him to the woodshed, that is, assuming he has any control at all over the military. If we can't go after the bad guys in Pakistan we might as well bring all of our guys home. That would then mean no more American dollars for Pakistan. Just tell 'em that we're getting ready to leave them to the tender mercies of their little Frankenstein monster. Maybe if they got hungry enough or desperate enough to save their own hides they'd be willing to sell their nukes. Or maybe they'd have to use their nukes on Wazoo. What a mess and it looks like it can only get worse. And what's the payoff? Some pathetic old creep hiding in a cave? Last night on CBS's 60 Minutes (yeah, I know) Obama said if the Pak army is unable or unwilling to go after bad guys in that country then we have to. He's a lot more adamant in this position than either Bush or McCain. Makes me wonder if he understands all the ramifications. In case you're getting ready to flame me for any of this particular rant, I'm not saying that I understand it all. I'm just trying to piece what I do know together. Obama's willing to make war in Afghanistan and Pakistan while forfeiting Iraq. But Iraq has the oil and it bugs the hell out of Binny and the Z-man that we're there. I kinda wonder if it isn't better if we just say to Binny, "OK, you get to hide in Wazoo for now, if you don't mind dodging the occasional arclight. But we got Iraq." |
| Posted by: Abu Uluque 2008-09-22 11:48 |
| #3 well considering that our helicopters where fired upon first even though they may have been in their airspace i think they should have smoked the asses whether they where paki military or not especially considering it's hard too tell the dif between paki army and taliban |
| Posted by: sinse 2008-09-22 11:35 |
| #2 After the Marriott bombing I think the Paki's will be a little more concerned about not allowing us some leeway in our operations at their border. In the immortal words of John Rambo, "you want a war, well I am here to give you one". |
| Posted by: Jack is Back! 2008-09-22 10:20 |
| #1 Hilarious. The Pakistanis are now having to guard the border, which means either the Taliban can't pass through it, or they have to do it with Pak army permission. Otherwise, if the Pak army aren't there, the US helicopters can enter and leave at will. |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2008-09-22 09:33 |