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Friday, December 23, 2011

Pentagon terms NATO attack on Pakistan a mistake


The Pentagon s top spokesman said US forces had "misunderstandings" in connection with a NATO attack last month that killed two-dozen Pakistani troops and further strained relations between Washington and Islamabad. Brig. Gen. Stephen Clark, an Air Force special operations officer who led the investigation, said the US. force actually "uncovered a considerable cache" of weapons in connection with the ill-fated operation. "The investigating officer found that U.S. forces, given what information they had available to them at the time, acted in self defense and with appropriate force after being fired upon," the Pentagon said in a statement. "He also found that there was no intentional effort to target persons or places known to be part of the Pakistani military, or to deliberately provide inaccurate location information to Pakistani officials." Twenty-four Pakistani soldiers were killed and 13 others injured Nov. 26 when NATO fighter jets and helicopters bombed two border outposts in the Mohmand tribal region near the Afghanistan border. The episode further deteriorated the relationship between Washington and Islamabad, which began to strain after an American raid inside Pakistan that killed Al-Qaeda mastermind Osama bin Laden on May 2. Following the outpost airstrikes, the Pakistani government immediately closed two border check points for NATO supplies into Afghanistan through Pakistan and threw the U.S. out of its Shamsi air base in southwestern Balluchistan province. The Pentagon statement faulted "inadequate coordination" by U.S. and Pakistani military officers for the airstrikes, including their reliance on incorrect mapping information shared with the Pakistani liaison officer. The poor coordination "resulted in a misunderstanding about the true location of Pakistani military units. This, coupled with other gaps in information about the activities and placement of units from both sides, contributed to the tragic result," the statement said. The findings of the investigation have been shared with the Pakistani and Afghan governments, as well as key NATO leadership, the Pentagon said.