Tensions on the Pakistan-Afghanistan border near the North Waziristan tribal agency have been reduced following effective contacts between Pakistani, US, and Afghan military officials, who agreed to blame al-Qaida and Taliban-linked militants for the violence. Since Monday, there had been unprecedented tensions along the mountainous border after four Pakistani paramilitary soldiers were injured in an armed clash with Afghan forces when they were collecting the wreckage of an unmanned US surveillance aircraft that had crashed in their territory after an airspace violation. Pakistani paramilitary forces retaliated with mortar and artillery fire after one of their soldiers died. The exact number of Afghan casualties could not be determined. Pakistani military spokesmen Major-General Shaukat Sultan said, "We have received the information that coalition forces have started investigation about those involved in the firing without any provocation." In a fresh twist to the incident, all three parties are shifting the blame for initiating the heavy fire on al-Qaida or Taliban militants. Major-General Sultan also downplayed the clash earlier this week as being of "minor tactical nature". According to his new interpretation of the incident, "[
] certain unknown elements from inside the Afghan territory resorted to unprovoked firing on own [Pakistani] troops which resulted in shahadat [martyrdom] of one soldier, while three others were injured." News agencies reporting from Kabul quoted US military spokesman Major Mark McCann describing the furious clash as "nothing more than a misunderstanding between the two sides present on the ground at the time". The spokesman ruled out any involvement of the 18,000-strong US-led forces in Afghanistan in the latest clashes. However, he admitted that troops had been sent to investigate the situation.
Meanwhile, Pakistan has summoned Afghanistan's ambassador to Islamabad, Nanguyalai Tarzi, to protest against what the Pakistani side describes as unprovoked fire from across the border. A foreign military official in Afghanistan was quoted by news agencies as confirming that a team had been sent to the crash site to destroy the wreckage of the unmanned US aircraft. "The explosion caused one side to fire, and then the other side fired back," the anonymous official reportedly said. But sources in the Pakistani intelligence community claim that a US helicopter opened fire on Pakistani soldiers who were gathering the wreckage of the downed plane, killing one of them and initiating the clash. US military drones often violate Pakistani airspace, and when they crash, the debris is usually destroyed by a US missile to prevent crucial technology from falling into foreign hands. Despite the prevailing calm, Pakistan's Interior Minister Aftab Sherpao told ISN Security Watch that the number of paramilitary forces patrolling the porous border with Afghanistan had been increased.