US Quiet on Pakistan Raid
September 5, 2008 by national
Filed under Stories of Interest
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The White House refused Thursday to comment directly on Pakistani anger at a cross-border raid by Afghanistan-based international forces just days before Pakistan’s presidential vote.
Spokeswoman Dana Perino said US authorities were “working to increase coordination and cooperation and supporting the Pakistanis, as we work to fight against the Taliban in a coordinated way.”
But Perino met questions about US policy in general regarding cross-border raids inside Pakistan or details of the Wednesday strike, which Islamabad has denounced as “shameful” and unjustified, with a stone wall.
“In regards to the reports about that incident, we have not commented, and I won’t today,” she told reporters. “I’m just not going to comment on the incident in any way.”
Authorities in Pakistan — a close US ally in the global war on terrorism — earlier summoned the US ambassador in protest at the incident in tribal South Waziristan, in which local officials said at least 15 people were killed.
Wednesday’s raid marked the first time Pakistan has accused international troops based in Afghanistan of a direct attack on its soil since they were deployed in late 2001 to oust the hardline Taliban regime from power in Kabul.
Both the US-led coalition and the separate NATO-led security force operating in Afghanistan have said they have no knowledge of any such incident in South Waziristan, a known haven for Taliban and Al-Qaeda militants.
