Pakistan Cuts NATO Supply Lines After Attack

By Haris Anwar and Anwar Shakir - Nov 27, 2011 6:29 AM GMT+0700

Pakistan cut supply lines to NATO troops in Afghanistan and ordered a U.S. withdrawal from a drone base after reports that helicopters of the U.S.-led NATO force in Afghanistan killed at least 24 Pakistani soldiers in an attack on a border post.

Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani “strongly condemned” the attack and ordered the Foreign Ministry to address the incident “in the strongest terms” with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and the U.S., his spokesman said yesterday in an e-mailed statement. The Cabinet’s defense committee held an emergency meeting and ordered the U.S. to withdraw from the Shamsi Airbase within 15 days.

Army Chief of Staff Ashfaq Kayani said the attack was a “blatant and unacceptable act,” and demanded urgent action against those responsible. NATO and the U.S. said the incident is being investigated.

The U.S. and Pakistani governments have been trying to stabilize their relationship after a year that included Pakistan’s detention of a CIA contract employee for killing two Pakistanis, the U.S. raid that that killed Osama bin Laden in May, and public accusations by top U.S. officials that Pakistan’s army is actively aiding militant groups that the U.S. defines as terrorist.

“This incident puts General Kayani in a very difficult position among his troops,” Talat Masood, a retired army lieutenant general and security analyst in Islamabad, said in an interview. “I don’t think both allies will go to the tipping point, but it makes things even worse at a time when the Obama administration was trying to restore a working relationship with Pakistan after the Osama bin Laden incident.”

Border Posts

In the Nov. 25 attack, NATO helicopters and a fighter aircraft fired at Pakistani border posts on the mountainous frontier between Afghanistan’s Kunar province and the Pakistani district of Mohmand, according to a statement posted on the Pakistani army’s website. The attack is at least the fourth on a Pakistan border facility by NATO forces in 15 months.

Pakistan’s defense committee, in a written statement from Islamabad, said the attacks “constituted breach of sovereignty, were violative of international law and had gravely dented the fundamental basis of Pakistan’s cooperation” with U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan.

‘Shared Interests’

“Senior U.S. civilian and military officials have been in touch with their Pakistani counterparts from Islamabad, Kabul and Washington to express our condolences, our desire to work together to determine what took place, and our commitment to the U.S.-Pakistan partnership, which advances our shared interests, including fighting terrorism in the region,” White House National Security Council spokeswoman Caitlin Hayden said in an e-mail yesterday.

NATO oversees the International Security Assistance Force, or ISAF, in Afghanistan. The incident “has my highest personal attention and my commitment to thoroughly investigate it to determine the facts,” said the ISAF commander, Gen. John R. Allen, in an e-mail. “My most sincere and personal heartfelt condolences go out to the families and loved ones of any members of Pakistan Security Forces who may have been killed or injured.”

Cameron Munter, the U.S. ambassador to Pakistan, said “the United States will work closely with Pakistan to investigate this incident,” according to a statement from his embassy.

NATO Investigation

It’s “highly likely” that NATO aircraft conducted a raid, the British Broadcasting Corp. said, citing an interview with spokesman Brigadier-General Carsten Jacobson. NATO is investigating how the incident happened and has sent condolences for it, Jacobson told the BBC.

In September 2010, U.S. forces attacked areas in the border districts of Kurram and North Waziristan, killing what Pakistan said were several of members of its paramilitary Frontier Corps, an army-led force that guards much of the border. Pakistan closed its frontier for 10 days to the NATO-contracted trucks that haul food, uniforms, construction material and other “non- lethal” supplies from its port of Karachi into Afghanistan. Pakistan re-opened the border after a joint investigation with U.S. officials and a NATO apology for the attacks.

Afghan and Pakistani Taliban factions regularly attack U.S. and other NATO forces from their bases in Pakistan and try to slip back across the frontier for protection from NATO retaliation. ISAF has at times asserted a right of “hot pursuit” of Taliban guerrillas into Pakistani territory, while Pakistan has objected, calling such actions a violation of its sovereignty.

The Pakistan-Afghanistan border passes through rugged mountains and desert terrain and is unmarked over most of its more than 2,600-kilometer (1,600-mile) length. The two countries dispute the border’s location in many areas.

To contact the reporters on this story: Haris Anwar in Islamabad at hanwar2@bloomberg.net; Anwar Shakir in Karachi at ashakir1@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Paul Tighe at ptighe@bloomberg.net