Pakistan: US Supplies for Afghanistan Blocked, 27 Trucks Burned (Cole)
Friday, October 1, 2010 at 8:12
Juan Cole rounds up the latest developments in Pakistan:
Tensions between the United States (‘NATO”) and the Pakistani government boiled over on Thursday and Friday after American helicopter gunships killed 3 Pakistani Frontier Corpsmen and wounded 4 others. The two countries are nominally allies in the battle against Taliban and other extremists, but Pakistan stands accused of being selective in which extremists it wants to combat and of remaining anti-American even as it takes $8.5 bn. in aid from Washington.
Some 27 NATO fuel tankers parked near Shikarpur and sidelined because of the Pakistani blockade of such vehicles were attacked with rocket-propelled grenades by insurgents early on Friday, turning them into a massive bonfire.
This as, Friday morning, though other routes did appear still to be open.
Khabrain reports in Urdu that NATO helicopter gunships made incursions 5 km. into Pakistani territory from Afghanistan in the Kurram tribal agency and fired on a Pakistani checkpoint, killing 3 Pakistani Frontier Corps personnel and wounding 4 others. The incident produced a strong reaction from politicians, retired officers, and fundamentalist parties. Pakistani authorities say that the checkpoint guards tried to alert the US helicopters that they had strayed into Pakistani territory by firing in the air, but the US pilots mistook this action for a hostile attack and blew away the checkpoint.
AP has video on the killing of 3 Pakistani troops by American helicopter gunships.
President Asaf Ali Zardari told visiting CIA chief Leon Panetta that the US must respect Pakistani sovereignty. Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani pointed out that the United Nations mandate to NATO was only for operations in Afghanistan, not in Pakistan, and Panetta is said to have granted the point.
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