Pakistan army says it has orders to fire on U.S. forces

Tue Sep. 16 2008 9:11:22 AM

Pakistan army says it has orders to fire on U.S. forces
Stephen Graham, The Associated Press


Pakistani villagers use a makeshift trolley to cross the Swat river to flee to safer places on Thursday, Sept 11, 2008. Nearly a week after a deadly American-led ground assault in Pakistani territory, Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani said Pakistan would defend its sovereignty, saying there was no deal to allow foreign forces to operate inside its borders.(AP Photo/Sherin Zada)



ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — 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 inside Pakistan, are certain to heighten tension between Washington and a key ally in its war on terrorism.

Pakistan's civilian leaders protested the raid but have said the dispute should be resolved through diplomatic channels.

However, army spokesman Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas told The Associated Press that the military leadership told field commanders after the raid in the South Waziristan tribal region to prevent any similar raids.

"The orders are clear," Abbas said in an interview. "In case it happens again in this form, that there is a very significant detection, which is very definite, no ambiguity, across the border, on ground or in the air: open fire."

U.S. military commanders accuse Islamabad of doing too little to prevent the Taliban and other militant groups from using the tribal regions to recruit, train and resupplying the rebel movement in Afghanistan.

Pakistan acknowledges the presence of al-Qaida operatives and the difficulty it faces in preventing militants from seeping through the mountainous border into Afghanistan.

However, it insists it is doing what it can and paying a heavy price for doing it, pointing to its deployment of more then 100,000 troops in its increasingly restive northwest and a wave of suicide bombings across the country.


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