Pakistan keeps border crossing shut

07 Oct 2010

Pakistan decides not to reopen border crossing used by NATO for supplies to Afghanistan in protest of deadly US attack.

Pakistan has decided not to reopen a key border crossing used by NATO for supplies to Afghanistan, despite a US apology for a helicopter attack that killed two Pakistani soldiers.

Abdul Basit, Pakistan's foreign ministry spokesman, said on Thursday that authorities were still evaluating the situation and a decision to reopen the Torkham crossing will be taken "in due course."

Hundreds of lorries have been stranded near the border or stuck in traffic on the way to the one route into Afghanistan from the south that has remained open.

Taliban fighters have taken advantage of the impasse to launch attacks against the vehicles. A driver was killed and about 70 fuel tankers were set on fire in attacks on Wednesday.

The crossing was closed to NATO convoys a week ago after a NATO helicopter entered Pakistani territory and killed the two border guards.

Both the US and NATO have apologised for the attack, saying the American helicopters mistook Pakistani soldiers for insurgents they were pursuing.

"We extend our deepest apology to Pakistan and the families of the Frontier Scouts who were killed and injured," Anne Patterson, the US ambassador to Pakistan, said.

'Warning shots'

Pakistani soldiers fired at the two US helicopters prior to the attack, a move the joint American-Pakistani investigation team said was likely meant to notify the aircraft of their presence after they passed into Pakistani airspace several times.

"We believe the Pakistani border guard was simply firing warning shots after hearing the nearby engagement and hearing the helicopters flying nearby," Tim Zadalis, NATO's director for air plans in Afghanistan who led the investigation, said.

"This tragic event could have been avoided with better coalition force co-ordination with the Pakistan military."

US and Pakistani officials had predicted the border crossing would be reopened in a matter of days, and the apology was could provide Pakistan with a face-saving way to back down.

NATO officials have insisted that neither the attacks on lorries nor the border closure have caused supply problems for NATO troops as hundreds of lorries still cross into Afghanistan each day through the Chaman crossing in southwestern Pakistan and via Central Asian states.

But reopening Torkham is definitely a priority for NATO because it is the main crossing in Pakistan, the country through which NATO ships the majority of its supplies into Afghanistan. Other routes are more expensive and logistically difficult.

Tense relations

Even if the border is reopened, underlying tensions will remain in the US-Pakistan relationship, especially over Pakistan's unwillingness to go after Afghan Taliban fighters on its territory.

In an assessment of operations in Pakistan's tribal areas, a White House report to congress said that Pakistani forces were avoiding "direct conflict" with the Afghan Taliban and al-Qaeda.

It also said that the Pakistani military has moved against fighters in South Waziristan, but that soldiers stayed close to roads and operations were progressing "slowly".

"In my mind, there's no question that the Pakistanis walk both sides of the street," Dianne Feinstein, the chairwoman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, said.

The US has dramatically increasing the number of CIA drone raids in Pakistan's tribal belt, including two on Wednesday that killed 11 fighters in North Waziristan, according to Pakistani intelligence officials.

The Pakistani Taliban has vowed more attacks to avenge the drone attacks.

"We will further intensify attacks with the intensification of US drone strikes on us," Azam Tariq, a spokesman for the Tehreek-e-Taliban told the news agency AFP.

Al Jazeera's Kamal Hyder, reporting from Islamabad, the Pakistani capital, said: "The US air strikes are not a small matter anymore in Pakistan.

"Many people believe there is a tacit agreement between the US and the Pakistan government about these air strikes. It will be interesting to see how the government in Islamabad will handle the pressure over the matter," he said.

The US does not publicly acknowledge the drone strikes in Pakistan, but US officials have said privately that they have killed several senior Taliban and al-Qaeda commanders.

Pakistani authorities have reported 24 attacks since September 3 which have killed more than 140 people.

Source: Al-Jazeera.
Link: http://english.aljazeera.net//news/asia/2010/10/20101078849195792.html.