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Mian Khursheed / Reuters
Soldiers carry the flag-draped casket of their colleague Najeebullah, who was killed in a NATO cross-border attack one day earlier, to his grave in his hometown of Charsadda in northwest Pakistan Nov. 27. On Sunday, Pakistan buried 24 troops killed in the air attack that has pushed a crisis in relations between the United States and an ally it needs to fight militancy towards rupture.
msnbc.com news services report:
"America is attacking our borders. The government should immediately break ties with it," said Naseema Baluch, a housewife attending the Karachi demonstration. "America wants to occupy our country but we will not let it do that."
U.S. and NATO officials are trying to defuse tensions but the soldiers' deaths are testing a bad marriage of convenience between Washington and Islamabad.
"This was a tragic unintended incident," NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said in a statement, adding that he fully supported a NATO investigation that was under way. We will determine what happened, and draw the right lessons."
Read the full story here.
Arif Ali / AFP - Getty Images
Pakistani Islamists burn a U.S. flag in protest of NATO strikes on Pakistani troops during a protest in Lahore on Nov. 27. NATO expressed regret over air strikes that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers as the United States sought to repair relations with Islamabad that plunged into crisis over the lethal attack. Pakistan has reacted with fury over the killings of two dozen soldiers, including two officers, in an "unprovoked" attack by NATO helicopters and fighter jets on two military posts on the border with Afghanistan early Saturday.
Arshad Arbab / EPA
Pakistani Army soldiers and officials attend the funeral of their comrades who were killed in NATO's airstrikes at Pakistani military check posts in Mohmand tribal agency, during their funeral in Peshawar, Pakistan, Nov. 27. Pakistani authorities on Nov. 26, closed NATO supply routes and ordered the U.S. military to vacate a base after airstrikes killed at least 24 Pakistani soldiers. Officials said two officers and 22 soldiers were killed and 13 troops wounded in the unprovoked action. Other unconfirmed reports said the casualty tolls could be higher.
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If I were the Pakistan Military . I would shoot down any foreign Aircraft who invaded their air space illegally.The US would do that to foreign war planes that invaded their air space. Seems like the Pakistani's Military have no backbone..
The fact remains !!!! They play both ends against the middle . Pakistans government can not be trusted at all . The sooner we leave that hell hole the better !!
As though Amerikkka can be trusted.
Not when the President is the friend of our enemies and hates our friends.
I hate our so-called "friends" too, assuming you mean Israel who is the only "friend" we have left after Mad King George. Didn't know I had anything in common with Obama.
Galactic use a brain cell !! Do you want to see alot more dead Pakistanis ? Pakistan has always backed terrorist in their tribal regions , I can guarantee you that we were taking fire from pakistani troops before they got unleashed on !!
Figure this was the cause:
"Afghan troops and coalition forces came under fire from the direction of two Pakistan army border posts, prompting them to call in NATO airstrikes that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers, Afghan officials said Sunday. The account challenges Islamabad's claims that the attacks, which have plunged U.S.-Pakistan ties to new lows, was unprovoked"
They always shoot first and cry later!
The fact remains that the United States government cannot be trusted. I doubt that any government can be trusted.
I guess they had a chance to shoot us down when we flew in and killed the most wanted man in the world...you know, the one that was living just spitting distance from a huge military base of theirs? Oh...but these are our allies in the war on terror.
Any Paki aircraft trying to get a lock on a U.S aircraft would die. We may have sold them aircraft as did the Chinese but they didn't get top of the line. I remember Paki pilots when I worked for Lockheed in the 80's. OK pilots in that they could fly a fighter but they would never survive combat for long.
Then the simple solution would be complete annhilation of that government as well. 30 yr old AKs versus the possibility of thermonuclear weapons don't make for a winning case....unless you're a glass dealer.
Now learn to quit being and helping your terrorist friends, or we have a nice cell for you with a happy black mask and an endless stream of water and some questions for you.
Pakistanis are dumb,we have donde so much to them and they still bend over and take it up the ass
They have every right to be angry, as we would be. Probably doesn't help that there is so much distrust between us that no one wants to share any critical info. If they had been communicating with us honestly, this incident might have been avoided.
It is not Pakistan cannot be trusted it is otherwise. What credibility American govt. has in the world not only in regards to Pakistan. Americans should wake up and listen to the world what world population thinks about you. Pakistan has done more than any country else in the world since its inception. American govt in thankless and stabs in the back of its own friends. There are so many examples of the atrocities committed by the American govt. Don't blame others for your own mistakes and illegal wars. Blame your self and your govt. Americans should accept their blunders not others. America is no friend to anybody it is the history and wouldn't hesitate to kill their own citizens when time comes.
There is so much ignorance in the majority of these posts, it never fails to astound me. Read a little history and don't be puppet to your media or govt before talking about mistrust and what your country has done for our's.
As for the checkpost, it was known to NATO so I'm not sure what one of the respondents above wanted by way of sharing info, Should the soldiers have sent NATO their bedtime schedule? NATO has all the coordinates for all our check-points. The men were all asleep when they were killed, there is no militant activity in that area as militants were cleared out of there ages ago.. If the top brass at your end decides to do a cover up, it won't be for the first time. They arent going to want to look bad, and have proved it on various occasions, an example was when Pat Tillman got killed.
You people live in an ignorant bubble. You are so full of hate because 2 buildings came down on 9/11. It's becoming popular here in Pakistan to say America had 9/11 and we have our 24/7.. Are you even aware of the number of innocent people (mostly civilians mind you, who are on many occasions women and children, wedding parties etc.) who have died in Pakistan during American drone attacks just be because they misread movement or were misinformed about the people present. Bombs remote controlled by a guy sitting in a cushy airconditioned space thousands of miles away.
If you have minds of your own stop, research, consider facts, consider the other side, and then form opinions. Even soldiers fighting this war appear wholly unaware of the facts. I can understand it isn't easy seeing that you're only presented with one side of the story on most occasions -- your soldiers get off easy because the northern areas of Pakistan where these attacks usually take place are rugged mountainous terrain with limited access even to us Pakistanis, they aren't not major cities, so death and destruction there doesnt get captured on screen. You only understand what you see on Telly and you see none of this.
It's a shame that you're fighting a "war" on tens of thousands ( climbing into hundreds of thousands) of innocent people, draining economoies, destroying nations, destabilizing entire regions, and then rubbing it in for doling out cash to the affected countries whose govts are misguided enough to support you.
God save us from each other. Can't wait for this to end.
Pakistan is a two headed serpent. While you are dealing with one head, the other is biting you in the back. Save your speeches as your currency is deceit.
Oh, Mr. Ambassador, how does the Pakistani government feel about all the innocent people killed by the terrorists they harbor with safe passage? Explain that to inquiring minds.
Don't think trust has anything to do with it. Parkistan is within their right to stop the use of drones or any other aircraft we can throw against them. Comunication is the key here, and the US would retaliate if they did the same.
And US has the right to say FU when you harboring our enemies that kill innocents in suicide attacks. And in fact hold them responsible
I am so sick of these bearded, stinky, stupid people. I think Ron Paul is right - bring all of our soldiers home from everywhere where we are not wanted. Then if an attack on anything American comes from Pakistan we go in and blow them all to pieces - problem solved. If the bad guys are living there, as a citizen you do something. For them to be angry about us coming and killing Bin Laden shows how ignorant they are. And please don't tell me about the innocent good citizens that need our help and support. I'd leave my home in an instant if the bad guys lived next door and I could not do anything about it.
Sorry Geez, The question is not good or bad. Question is How US or NATO can cross the border of a country and attack their army? How about if Canadian or Cuba aircraft come inside US and kill US troops?
Stinky bearded people got killed in their sleep serving their country's army. Thanks for your condolence message. I endorse your opinion that your army should pull out, but you are misinformed if you think you can bomb us to bits (real classy by the way) - it is when one hears talk like this that one thanks the Lord that we too are armed with nuclear deterrents. shame on you for your crass words after this tragic incident.
Interesting how many of these Middle Eastern people hate America, but love to live here.
Pakistanis are not "middle eastern" - that is a term used for Arabs. Pakistanis are "South Asian". Seems the money your country lends us is giving me a better education than you guys get there, and so I can actually pull off living abroad. Not sure you would be able to manage.
Personally, I think it's about time we pull totally out of the region and let the Islamic extreme governments take over in these countries. Then we'll see how long it takes for the masses to be screaming for American assistance. Also, we won't have to worry about 'offending' a friendly government.
This is the only thing I blame on Jimmy Carter. He should have sent troops, immediately to Tehran when militants came on US soil of the embassy.
The Europeans outsmarted president carter, so that they can have access to cheap oil, by promoting the corrupt clergy to gain power.
The US is not perfect by no means but pull our troops and end all foreign aid and sit back and see if we're better than the alternative or not!
Funny how every one of the Presidential candidates (except that darn "fringe" Paul) is worried about a nuclear Iran. Yet we are constantly pissing off our "friends" in Pakistan that are have nuclear capabilities. Maybe we need to give them more money to by them off. So far that's worked in Egypt. Rolls eyes, shakes head.
Bush said he believed Osama was in Pak. Bush said he didn't care about Osama *right now*. Why wouldn't Bush cross international lines to fight our enemies? Because Bush respects a soverign nations right not to be attacked by anyone let alone it's allies. Bush did send drone to Wizeristan with the Paks permission.
Obama on the other hand doesn't give a rats a s s about any of that. And as a result he got Osama but what was the cost and was it worth it? We lost billions of dollars worth of top secret information on stealth tech. to China, we angered the Paks and handed them to China, we just cut off our own troops from supplies with this last fiasco.
What else do you have up your sleeve Obama? It's only our troops over there facing the music for your FU^^ ups!
Is there no stopping Obama from making a bigger mess in the ME than he already has? Beween him and Clinton they've got the entire ME on fire and Russia is about to tear up the new treaty.
Can we please send him to some 900 hole golf course in the north pole or something? He is an idiot on foreign policy and that is clear.
We wouldn't be involved in this kind of mess if Ron Paul were potus
Our government is killing millions of people in the middle east with their never ending wars I guess since they spend more than the hole planet combined in militirism they have to use their toys killing people. We as Amewrican have to demand change, they are making more enemies for us by their actions, they tell leaders of other countries to step down for not letting people protest and when it happens here they violate peoples rights by beating them, pepper spraying teens, arresting them and phisycaly abusing people. That is hyprocasy that goes to show that our system is broken and needs to be restructured!
*Because Bush respects a soverign nations right not to be attacked by anyone let alone it's allies.
What are you talking about? Bush respects sovereign nations? What an oxyMoron. Afghanastan and Iraq are two sovereign nations Bush attacked at the cost of billions of dollars and hunreds of thousands of lives. As far as Russia goes, their playing the west, they are part of Nato yet do all of their joint military training with China! Obama's the best thing for US international relations, well, since Clinton.
Great, the US is on another Al-Qaeda recruiting mission. Our own government gives the rest of the world more reasons to hate us on a daily basis than 10 Bin Ladens ever could.
Funny that you say that.... this is exactly why so many Mexicans cross the border across into the U.S. They know the "bad guys" live next door, across the street, and around the corner, and they can't do anything about it so they leave and come to the closest safe place. THEN when they do that, people like you want to throw them back. So which is it??
You are correct. We didn't do anything about the first World Trade Center bombing, the embassy bombings, the marine barracks bombing, the USS Cole bombings and what did Osama learn? The coward Americans don't fight back so he bombed the Trade center again and 3,000 more Americans dead. And if Paul were President the coward Americans would STILL not do anything.
Yeah that's the way to go just do nothing and invite them back for more bombings. They may kill 6,000 Americans next time and Paul would do nothing like most cowardly presidents have done. Let's just let them come kill us. Beside they can't get us all now can they?
Correction: the US was doing horrible things in the Middle East prior to the World Trade Center bombing, the embassy bombings, the marine barracks bombing, and the USS Cole bombings. The fact that the US did nothing to change their interventionist policies in the middle east only taught Osama to go bigger. If the US truly did nothing and withdrew from these countries where they were not wanted, none of those attacks would have occurred.
Lets support the Islamic cult and send them all the Muslims here in the US because most of us do not want their narrow minded religion here anyway.. It is a self reinforcing cult where freedom is limited and change forbidden so it is useless to resist and prepare to be assimilated or die..
Sorry about the loss of life , but tired of having our children , go hungry, and service people lives, and now comming home to no jobs etc, while we continue to send taxpayer money to people that we cant trust but our government continues to send money........humanitairian fine, nothing else bring our money home.....our country continues to crumble while washington plays politics as usual.....
GeezString,
Shallow thinking like yours is what's the problem with our great country America: lack of understanding coupled with a cowboy attitude. "Go in and blow them to pieces": what a solution.
GeezString,
Shallow thinking like yours is what's the problem with our great country America: lack of understanding coupled with a cowboy attitude. "Go in and blow them to pieces": what a solution.
We really have to suspend the Geneva Conventions when fighting Muslims, besides they don't follow them anyways. Conan says it best.. To crush your enemies, see them driven before you, and to hear the lamentation of their women.
Hard to tell what this was.. Heard a report that NATO choppers were called in by Pakistan troops to suppress insurgents then were shot at by the Pakistani troops.. These are the same idiots who cheered and had parties in the streets when they heard about 9/11.. Stop giving them money and other aid they are not our ally against insurgents they support them..
Cheered on the streets? Ok I saw that on foreign media channels too, so I understand why you think there was a party going on but noone I know celebrated... you're showing a lot of heart over the death of innocent soldiers, regardless of nationality they are lost lives.... the chaps your tv folks found celebrating and yourself are possibly one of a kind, full of hate and loathing and lacking in compassion because of what one did to the other back in 1850, 2001 or 2011
Now it seems the insurgents/Pakistani troops were shooting at their neighbors across the border and the retaliation seems to be unpalatable..This is not the first time for this so why have we not learned our lesson and pulled all aid.. We donate food and medical aid after earthquakes and floods and it has to be repackaged so it looks like it is coming from Muslims.. I do not see very many generous Muslim countries rushing to a fellow Muslims aid and the Red Crescent gets more aid $$ from the US then them as well.. Any country where it is illegal to speak of any religion other than Islam under penalty of death should be left to their own rot.. They kidnap and behead health care workers and the people seem to be OK with that..The explanation is "well that's the Islamic way", If your neighbor is a killer and likes to blow up schools they are not reported because it would violate an Islamic rule of hospitality..
Seems that a lot of folk in Pakistan were very happy back then.. Burning US flags and dancing around, sure looked like a party to me.. It lasted for several days in a row so they must have been having a good time at it.. Islam is a cult as defined in the dictionary, it puts itself above everything else including morality.. It has severe punishments if you try to leave or convert as the door only swings one way.. The cast system and social restrictions are there to reinforce this reduction or lack of free will.. Even moderate Muslims become violent at the drop of a pin if their beliefs are threatened because of the brainwashing {riots in England}.. A religion based on love my ass..
To me it's about time the US is challenging the brutal armies of some of these third world countries like Egypt and Pakistan. Atleast the opressed ethnic minorities in these countries definitely look up to US for their stand on global democratic principles.
These troops will just be the first of many, hopefully. It's time to wipe out these oppressive regimes.
Pakistan is right, stop the drone attacks there, let them deal with the terrorists themselves. And most importantly stop funding Pakistan with 2$ billions each year.
We're not exactly shopping for snacks with that money, your war has a huge toll on our infrastructure, this isn't charity, this is payment for the support and infrastructure lent to your govts. What a shame that after such a huge loss to us, instead of condoling, all you people can do is mock and ridicule.
I am not american, but westerner. I am not mocking. This is a tragic loss and everyone here agree with it.
Yet we see people making riots and burning flags, for what ? You guys don't even know the whole story yet. And it appears afghan forces who called for a NATO airstrike were under fire. Pakis should have blame the afghan army at worst, because they told NATO who to attack.
Drone attacks occur in tribal regions mostly, so it doesn't destroy much infrastructures. This is war, in Europe whole cities were destroyed mostly by the US, yet we don't condemn them.
A tragedy. And how many Americans, Paks and Afghanis died because Pak military shelters al-Qaida and Taliban?
Leave everything aside; Will US and NATO will accept 25 dead bodies of their troops if Pakistani Forces attack on their positions inside Afghanistan? Keep in mind it’s not first time, few months back US and NATO forces killed 30 Pakistani soldiers in similar attack.
@Sincerely Yours, you mean like the meeting set up by the Pakis to discuss how to fight the Taliban along the border, then after the meeting attacked and killed several Americans including a couple of high ranking officers? Yet we did nothing about it. We didn't even tell their Ambassidor to go F himself.
How considerate of you to hold your tongue. Not sure you did nothing about it though. Seems to me we appear to die pretty regularly at your hands.