Despite U.S. Apology, Pakistan Decides Not To Re-Open Supply Route

From Jihad Watch:

Despite U.S. apology, Pakistan decides not to re-open supply route


An update on this story. Again, Pakistan is reveling in the leverage it thinks it has, putting the desire to stick a finger in the eye of the U.S. and India above its own sovereignty while looking the other way from its various jihadist movements. That is, when it is not actively aiding them.



Meanwhile, Pakistan's Foreign Ministry spokesman Abdul Basit assures us that "authorities were still evaluating the situation and would make a decision 'in due course'." This is the same Abdul Basit who earlier told us he was unaware of a jihadist plot against Europe, assuring us: "Let me reiterate that Pakistan is committed not to allow its territory for terrorist actions anywhere in the world."



A real straight shooter, that Abdul Basit. "Pakistan doesn't reopen border despite US apology," by Sebastian Abbott for the Associated Press, October 7:



ISLAMABAD -- Pakistan said Thursday it has not decided when to reopen a key border crossing NATO uses to ship supplies to Afghanistan despite a U.S. apology for a helicopter attack that killed two Pakistani soldiers.

A suspected U.S. missile strike, meanwhile, killed three people in a northwestern Pakistan tribal region along the border, the latest in a surge of such attacks on militant strongholds, intelligence officials said.

Both the U.S. and NATO expressed their condolences Wednesday for the Sept. 30 attack and said American helicopters mistook the Pakistani soldiers for insurgents being pursued across the border from Afghanistan.

The apologies raised expectations that the Torkham border crossing along the famed Khyber Pass could reopen very soon. But Pakistan Foreign Ministry spokesman Abdul Basit said at a news conference Thursday that authorities were still evaluating the situation and would make a decision "in due course."

The delay could be short-lived since U.S. and Pakistani officials predicted the border crossing would be reopened in a matter of days even before the apologies were issued.

Pakistan closed Torkham to NATO supply convoys on the same day as the attack, leaving hundreds of trucks stranded alongside the country's highways or stuck in traffic on the way to the one route into Afghanistan from the south that has remained open.

Suspected militants have taken advantage of the impasse to attack stranded or rerouted trucks. Gunmen torched 70 fuel tankers and killed a driver in two attacks Wednesday.

The U.S. ambassador to Pakistan, Anne Patterson, said in a statement Wednesday that "we extend our deepest apology to Pakistan and the families of the Frontier Scouts who were killed and injured."

The U.S. and NATO issued apologies after their investigation found that the Pakistani soldiers fired at the two U.S. helicopters prior to the attack, likely trying to notify the aircraft of their presence after the helicopters entered Pakistani airspace several times.

The head of the investigation -- U.S. Air Force Brig. Gen. Tim Zadalis, NATO's director for air plans in Afghanistan -- said the "tragic event" could have been avoided with better coordination with the Pakistani military....

That last statement tends to work on a number of levels, as so much of the lack of cooperation rests on Pakistan. Or, rather, cooperation with the wrong side.

Posted by Marisol on October 7, 2010 8:17 AM