Pakistani Military Fires On U.S. Helicopters At Afghan/Pakistani Border

Things apparently are coming to a head in the NW tribal provinces of Pakistan as Pakistani forces allegedly fired on U.S. helicopters trying to cross the Pakistani border airspace - the Pakistanis say the U.S. choppers turned around on both occasions while U.S. sources say there was no incursion, no incident. Here's the latest details from The Long War Journal:

The Pakistani military fired on US helicopters as they attempted to cross the border in Pakistan's Taliban-controlled tribal agency of North Waziristan, according to reports from the region. The latest US incursion comes just two days after a suicide bombing destroyed the Marriott Hotel in the heart of Islamabad. A little-known terror group took credit for the strike.
The US incursion occurred near the village of Lwara Mundi, a region dominated by the powerful Haqqani family in North Waziristan. Pakistani regular Army and Frontier Corps units opened fire during two separate incidents, anonymous intelligence sources told AFP.
"Pakistani forces fired at two US gunships which violated Pakistan's airspace and forced them to return to Afghanistan," one source told the news agency. "The helicopters flew back after our troops fired shots at them."
"The helicopters were heading towards our border. We were alert and when they were right on the boundary line we started aerial firing, they hovered for a few minutes and went back," an official in Islamabad said. "About 30 minutes later they made another attempt. We retaliated again, firing in the air and not in their direction, from both the army position and the FC position, and they went back."
The US denied its helicopters attempted to enter Pakistani territory. "There was no such incursion; there was no such event," Colonel Gary Keck, a Defense Department spokesman told The Associated Press.

I really hate to see this happening - I actually had some hopes of the Pakistanis working with the Americans on missions to take out the Taliban and al Qaeda. However, I don't see the Americans stopping the air strikes in Pakistan - and it's my belief that if this even actually did happen, it was a staged test by American crews...to see if the Pakistanis would open fire. If the U.S. wants to send helicopters into Pakistan, I mean, REALLY wants to send them in, the Pakistani troops are NOT going to be seeing them.

But bottom line is if the U.S. has another air strike or raid it will be critical to see the Pakistani response. Their government is so unpredicatable...they change their position on the Taliban almost daily and after they announced renewed efforts in NW Pakistan today, you'd think they would accept some extra air power and help.

But don't get me wrong. I am for the American military forces in Afghanistan pushing the Pakistan envelope all the way to the very edge before there may be any curtailing of it. In the end, the Pakistanis will thank us for it.

Pakistani military fires on US helicopters at border

This is the third attempt by the US to hit Taliban and al Qaeda camps and safe houses using helicopter-borne troops. The US denied a similar incursion on Sept. 15. US special operations forces attempted to conduct a raid in South Waziristan, but were fired on.
A highly controversial US raid occurred in a border village in South Waziristan on Sept. 3. US forces conducted an air assault in a border village in South Waziristan. More than 20 Pakistanis were killed in the attack. The US stated Taliban fighters were killed in the action, while the Pakistani government claimed only women and children were killed.
The Pakistani military said it had direct orders to "open fire" on any US forces attempting to violate Pakistan's borders.
The US has stepped up attack in Pakistan's tribal areas this year after the Taliban and al Qaeda consolidated control in the tribal regions and settled districts of the Northwest Frontier Province. There have been 10 recorded cross-border strikes since Aug. 31. There have been 19 recorded cross-border attacks and attempts in Pakistan in 2008, compared to 10 strikes during 2006 and 2007 combined. The last attack occurred on Sept. 17.
Three senior al Qaeda leaders have been killed in the attacks. The Haqqani Network, the powerful al Qaeda and Taliban-linked group run by Jalaluddin and Siraj Haqqani has been heavily targeted as well. These attacks are designed to interdict al Qaeda’s ability to conduct attacks against the West as well as degrade the Taliban’s support network being used against NATO forces in Afghanistan.
The Taliban, al Qaeda, and allied terrorist groups have established 157 training camps and more than 400 support locations in the tribal areas and the Northwest Frontier Province, US intelligence officials have told The Long War Journal.