Pakistan: GIs on Cross-Border Raids Will Be Shot

Zardari says he doubts U.S. will attempt any more special-forces operations

A Pakistani soldier mans a machine gun in Bajur in Pakistan’s tribal area on Tuesday. Military officials have ordered troops to open fire on U.S. forces if they cross the Afghan border to target insurgents. (Photo credit: Anwarullah Khan / AP)

Sept. 16, 2008

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan – Pakistan’s military has ordered its forces to open fire if U.S. troops launch another air or ground raid across the Afghan border, an army spokesman said Tuesday.

The orders, which come in response to a highly unusual Sept. 3 ground attack by U.S. commandos, are certain to heighten tensions between Washington and a key ally against terrorism. Although the ground attack was an exception, there have been repeated reports of U.S. drone aircraft striking militant targets, most recently on Sept. 12.

Pakistani officials warn that stepped-up cross-border raids will accomplish little while fueling violent religious extremism in nuclear-armed Pakistan. Some complain that the country is a scapegoat for the failure to stabilize Afghanistan. …

Update

U.S. Commander in Talks with Angry Pakistanis

ISLAMABAD – The top U.S. military officer, Admiral Mike Mullen, held talks with Pakistani leaders on Wednesday aiming to patch up ties strained by a flurry of U.S. strikes against militants in Pakistan.

Mullen said this month he was not convinced Western forces were winning in Afghanistan and he was “looking at a new, more comprehensive strategy” that would cover both sides of the border, including Pakistan’s tribal areas. …

A new government in nuclear-armed Pakistan has committed itself to the U.S.-led campaign against Islamist militancy even though support for the United States is deeply unpopular.

But Islamabad objects to cross-border strikes and protested against a bloody helicopter-borne ground assault by U.S. commandos in South Waziristan this month. There have been five U.S. missile strikes this month, killing militants and civilians. …

U.S. President George W. Bush approved the U.S. commando assault in South Waziristan on September 3 without Islamabad’s permission as part of a presidential order on covert operations, officials and sources familiar with the matter said. …

Pakistani security officials said on Monday firing by Pakistani troops forced two U.S. military helicopters to turn back to Afghanistan after they crossed into Pakistani territory, although the U.S. and Pakistani militaries denied it. …

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4 U.S. Coalition Troops Killed in Afghanistan

Sept. 17, 2008

KABUL, Afghanistan – A roadside blast Wednesday in eastern Afghanistan killed four U.S. coalition soldiers and an Afghan, the coalition said. It did not identify the nationalities of all the victims, but the majority of troops in eastern Afghanistan are American.

U.S. military deaths in Afghanistan in 2008 have already surpassed the record 111 deaths the U.S. suffered last year, as insurgent attacks have increased. The number of attacks on U.S. forces in eastern Afghanistan has risen by around 30 percent this year compared with 2007, U.S. military officials say. …

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Related stories

UN: 1,445 Afghan civilians killed in 2008 violence

2008: A deadly year for Afghan civilians

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IRAQ UPDATE

Iraq Blasts and Gun Attacks Kill at Least 15

At least 3 bombs explode in Baghdad; pro-U.S. official targeted

U.S. soldiers guard the scene of two bombings in the Harfiyeh neighborhood of Baghdad on Wednesday. At least eight people were killed in the attack. (Photo credit: Sabah Arar / AFP – Getty Images)

Sept. 17, 2008

BAGHDAD — Bombs and shootings have killed at least 15 people in Iraq, police said Wednesday.

Two car bombs exploded in quick succession near each other in western Baghdad on Wednesday, killing eight people and wounding 20, a police officer said. …

In another attack Wednesday in downtown Baghdad, a roadside bomb that exploded at an intersection killed three people and wounded six, police said. Two traffic policemen were among the dead, they added.

In an attack on Tuesday night, gunmen in the northern city of Kirkuk opened fire on a car, killing three civilians and injuring another, said Brig. Sarhad Qadir, the head of Kirkuk police.

Also Tuesday night, a car bomb killed Muhanned Abdul-Jabbar, a senior official with a U.S.-backed group of Sunni fighters in Ramadi, west of Baghdad. …