PENTAGON SAYS PAKISTAN NOT JOINING BOMBING PROBE

WASHINGTON: Pakistan is refusing to participate in the US investigation of last week’s Nato bombing along the Afghanistan border that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers.

At a Pentagon briefing Friday, Defence Department press secretary George Little said the US asked Pakistan to be part of the investigation, but the Pakistanis have ”elected to date” not to participate. That decision is just one in a series of actions Islamabad has taken in retribution for the incident, including a move to shut down supply lines that the United States uses to get food, fuel and other equipment from ships at Pakistani ports on the Arabian Sea to troops in Afghanistan. At the same time, however, US military officials said Friday that Pakistan has continued to have representatives at the border coordination centres working with Afghan and coalition forces.

So far, the US has sufficient supplies on hand and has been able to find other ways to get shipments through to Afghanistan, including alternate routes through Uzbekistan. ”Logistics is about alternatives; it’s about options, and we’re certainly working through what sort of options we may need to pursue,” said Navy Capt. John Kirby, a Pentagon spokesman. Asked why the US has chosen to express its regrets for the incident but has not explicitly apologised to the Pakistanis, Kirby said that ”in this case, this was clearly a military engagement…that cross-border fire resulted in the deaths of some two dozen Pakistani soldiers, not innocent villagers or civilians.”

Kirby added that it is too early to assign blame for the deaths because the investigation is not yet completed. Other defence officials have told The Associated Press that when US and Afghan forces came under fire, the US checked with the Pakistan military to see if there were friendly troops in the area and were told there were none. Pakistani officials have said that the US gave them the wrong location when asking clearance to return fire. Defence officials deny that, and say the investigation is likely to point substantial blame at the Pakistanis. The US officials spoke on condition of anonymity because the investigation is not complete.

German Brig. General  Carsten Jacobson, a spokesman for the Nato coalition in Afghanistan, said it will take much of December to complete the investigation. ”We need Pakistan to join this process so that we have a rounded picture,” he said, adding, however, that, ”we have to understand that emotions obviously are very high on the Pakistani side.” The incident has deteriorated the already shaky US relationship with Pakistan, endangering the war in Afghanistan, including reconciliation efforts with members of the Afghan Taliban who often seek sanctuary in Pakistan. But defence officials said that so far the retribution from Pakistan, including the shutdown of supply lines, has had negligible effect on the war effort, including operations to go after insurgents. ”I don’t think, if I was a member of the Haqqani network or the Taliban, that I’d be lollygagging around that area,” said Kirby.

US Defence and State Department officials also said the US continues to reach out to Pakistan and hopes that the relationship can be mended. At the State Department, spokesman Mark Toner told reporters that efforts were continuing to persuade Pakistan to participate in next week’s conference in Bonn, Germany, on the future of Afghanistan. The Pakistanis withdrew from the event this week. ”We think it would be regrettable if Pakistan were not to attend this conference,” Toner said. ”It’s important for the region. It’s important for the neighborhood. It’s important that we all work to put Afghanistan on a square and solid footing.” Toner said that the US and Pakistan had a shared interest in combating extremist groups operating in Pakistani-Afghan border areas and that cooperation needed to be improved.

11 KILL IN DRONE STRIKES IN KURRAM AGENCY TRIBAL REGION

On Monday Suspected US drones fired missiles into Pakistan’s Kurram Agency region, at least 11 militants killed.

US Air forces have intensified missile strikes by remotely-controlled drones in Pakistan’s border regions since the killing of Osama bin Laden by US SEALs in the country last month.

Seventy-seven militants have been killed in missile strikes by US drones this month, according to a Reuters tally based on statements from intelligence officials.

Most of these strikes focused on Waziristan a major al Qaeda and Taliban sanctuary but Monday’s attack targeted militants in Kurram, another tribal region north of Waziristan.

An intelligence official in Kurram said the four missiles fired by drones targeted two militant compounds and a vehicle in the Khardand area, a stronghold of Fazal Saeed, a local militant commander.

Saeed is closely linked to the Haqqani network one of the most feared Afghan militant groups fighting US forces across the border in Afghanistan, officials say.

“Eleven militants were killed. Nine of them were Afghans and believed to be linked to the Haqqani group,” a second intelligence official said. The remaining militants were said to be Pakistanis.

Holed up

Kurram is an unusual target and could mark a further expansion of the US campaign against militants holed up in North and South Waziristan.

North Waziristan is the major base for the Haqqani network and security officials say many of its fighters and their local allies are believed to have fled to Kurram. The militants are believed to have cut a deal with Shia Muslim tribesmen last year in Kurram and neighbouring tribal regions amid speculation that Pakistan’s army might launch an offensive in North Waziristan.

Pakistan has long publicly opposed US drone strikes, saying they complicate Islamabad’s efforts to win over the people and isolate the militants in border regions. But Washington sees them as an effective tool to stem cross-border attacks by militants on foreign forces in Afghanistan.

In Miramshah in North Waziristan, about 1,500 tribesmen staged a general strike to protest against the drone attacks. They threatened to take up arms against the Pakistani army if they continued. “We know this is happening under a secret deal with Pakistan,” a cleric, Mohammad Alam, told a rally in Miramshah. Militants in North Waziristan have agreed not to attack security forces there in return for the freedom to operate inside Afghanistan from their bases. If they scrap the deal, it could further destabilize Pakistan, already under pressure from the United States and its allies to pursue militants after the killing of Osama bin Laden.

Pakistani officials say, however, that the military is already overstretched. It also wants a commitment from the United States that its troops will secure its side of the border. Otherwise, it says, its own troops and people become vulnerable to attack by militants based on the Afghan side.