The U.S. military on Friday said it had a right to chase suspected terrorists operating in unsettled southeastern Afghan border areas into Pakistani territory, a position that a high Pakistani Interior Ministry official later rejected.
The dispute comes after a still murky border clash Sunday when a man dressed in the uniform of a Pakistani border scout fired on a U.S. military patrol near Shkin, wounding one American. Americans then called in an air strike that killed two Pakistanis.
Why the man fired on the U.S. unit is still unexplained. But the incident and claims by some hard-liners that the U.S. bomb landed in Pakistan has fanned anti-American sentiment, helping draw thousands into the streets for anti-U.S rallies in several Pakistani cities Friday.
The U.S. military said a Marine Harrier jet dropped a 500-pound bomb Dec. 29 in an area commonly recognized as Afghan territory although situated 300 yards or more behind a Pakistani border station.
Pakistan has been a valued U.S. ally in the war on terrorism, arresting 400 suspects and posting 70,000 troops along the porous Afghan border. On Wednesday, Pakistani officials downplayed the bombing and declined to blame U.S. military authorities for the deaths.
But the U.S. assertion that it had a right to make incursions into Pakistan to catch terrorists seemed to catch authorities off-guard Friday.
At a regular briefing at the U.S. military base at Bagram north of Kabul, spokesman Stephen Clutter said Friday that the U.S. right to pursue Al Qaeda and Taliban suspects across the Afghan border is a “long-standing policy” agreed to by Pakistan. To his knowledge, the United States has never exercised the right, he said.
“We are not just going to tiptoe and stop right when we get to the border,” Clutter said, referring to possible pursuits of suspected Taliban and Al Qaeda members who frequently harass U.S. forces arrayed in bases along the border area. “We do reserve the right to pursue them, and Pakistan is aware of that. There’s no change there.”
In Islamabad, a high Interior Ministry official said that “there is nothing in the understanding between the U.S. and Pakistan that will allow the U.S. to pursue criminals in Pakistani territory.”
“All operations in Pakistani territory against all criminals are being carried out and will be carried out by Pakistani law-enforcement agencies,” said the official. As of late Friday evening, the Pakistani government had not issued a formal response to the U.S. military spokesman’s comments.
The border scout who allegedly fired on the U.S. soldiers is in custody and is being questioned by Pakistani authorities, the official said. Sgt. Kelly Tyler, a U.S. military spokeswoman, said the investigation is being handled by the Pakistanis.
