Washington, D.C., United States (AHN) – The United States on Thursday refused to get bogged down by the unilateral decision by Pakistan to shut down supply routes to the NATO led-ISAF forces in Afghanistan, in retaliation for an air strike.
U.S. Department of Defense spokesman Col. Dave Lapan told journalists at the Pentagon that Pakistani border troops fired at U.S. helicopters and the fire was returned in self-defense.
Citing from a statement “that the Pakistanis put out,” Lapan said, “their forces used rifle fire at the helicopters as a warning and if you fire on a helicopter in a combat zone, they usually take that as hostile and return fire.”
On the question of failure in communications between two sides, Lapan noted that there is a process which is trying to determine “how this happened, why this happened, whether protocols were followed or not.”
During regular state department briefing, PJ Crowley, the spokesman echoed the Pentagon assessment, “We have multiple routes to be able to resupply our forces in Afghanistan,” adding, “ISAF is working with the Pakistani Government to investigate the incident.”
Asked to comment if this is a major disruption or not, Lapan said that it depends on the “duration” of closure of the busy border crossing known as Torkham Gate.
“Right now too soon to tell because we don’t know how long that might last,” noted Lapan, adding, “We are in discussion with the Pakistani government and hope we can resolve the issue through discussion.”
Depending on “the duration of the closure,” Lapan said the “trucks that are there might go to a holding area for a period of time till situation is either resolved or they are re-routed.”
Although the U.S. is hoping the stoppage is “temporary,” Lapan said, “We hope that we are going to resolve the issue by discussing it with the Pakistanis,” reiterating, “But again we have other means of supplying our forces.”
After the incident, ISAF issued a statement saying, “The aircraft received what the crews assessed as effective small arms fire from individuals just across the border in Pakistan. Operating in self defense, the ISAF aircraft entered into Pakistani airspace killing several armed individuals.”
“ISAF and Pakistani forces are reviewing the operational reporting,” the statement said, adding, “And we will work together to fully investigate this incident.”
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