More details are being dribbled out about the killing of 26 (that's the latest number) Paki soldiers in November in a cross-border firefight. The New York Times, citing the report and the usual faceless officials and officers whispering from the shadows, says that the joint U.S./Afghan Special Forces contingent of 120 soldiers was conducting an operation in an Afghan village a mile from the border, when the Pakis opened fire on them with machine guns. (Mortars too, according to the Wall Street Journal.) For some reason, this is being called a "misunderstanding." Since when are the Pakis supposed to shoot at targets a mile inside Afghanistan?
Then a U.S. jet did a low flyover the Paks, supposedly, and a helicopter dropped flares, to tell the Paks that they were shooting at Americans. (Since presumably the Pakis have enough brains to realize that the Taliban doesn't have jets and helicopters.)
But the hostile ("friendly") fire continued, so airstrikes were called in. The commandos then took fire from a second Paki position.
In the raid on the village, a large arms cache was found, along with a bomb-making factory. So the Pakis were in effect defending terrorist assets.
The commandos surmised from the accuracy of the fire they were taking that, since it was near midnight, the shooters had night-vision equipment. Of course, that would be a gift from the U.S.
Maybe the Americans figured the Pakis would only use it to kill Indians.
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