Pakistan rejects US probe

Into the killing of 24 Pakistani soldiers:

Pakistan: Pakistan yesterday rejected a US probe into the killing of 24 Pakistani soldiers, extending a crisis in its US alliance now overshadowed by a showdown between the government and military in Islamabad.

The November 26 US air strikes on the Pakistani border with Afghanistan plunged the precarious Pakistani-US alliance to its lowest ebb in a decade with both sides still in dispute about the precise sequence of events. An inquiry, headed by a US Air Force general, blamed US and Pakistani forces for a series of mistakes that led to what was the deadliest single cross-border attack of the 10-year war in Afghanistan.

The Americans acknowledged for the first time significant responsibility, but insisted their troops responded only after coming under heavy machine-gun and mortar fire, angering Islamabad, which has denied any such thing.

The probe portrayed a disastrous spate of errors and botched communication in which both sides failed to tell the other about their operational plans or location of troops, exposing deep distrust endemic in the alliance. “Pakistan's army does not agree with the findings of the US/NATO inquiry as being reported in the media. The inquiry report is short on facts,” the military said in a short statement. “A detailed response will be given as and when the formal report is received,” it added.

Pakistan refused to take part in the inquiry and instead sought a formal apology from US President Barack Obama, dissatisfied with condolences and expressions of regret from the Americans. Islamabad has kept its Afghan border closed to NATO convoys since November 26, boycotted the Bonn conference on Afghanistan and ordered Americans to leave an air base understood to have been a hub for CIA drone strikes on the Taliban.

The 28-day border closure is unprecedented in the 10-year US-led war in Afghanistan, shutting down the quickest and cheapest supply line for 140,000 foreign troops fighting the Taliban.

The crisis has also seen a halt in US drone strikes in Pakistan, which Pakistani politicians have called a bid not to create further tensions. AFP