ISLAMABAD, 19 August 2003 — The United States’ military chief telephoned Pakistan to express regret for the accidental killings of two Pakistani troops by US soldiers on its volatile border with Afghanistan, state media reported yesterday.
Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the US armed forces’ Joint Chiefs of Staff, is the latest US official to convey regrets for the Aug. 11 killings, which raised tensions between the US and Pakistan, a key ally in its war-on-terror.
The two soldiers were accidentally shot dead when US troops patrolling the Afghan side of the border in Paktika province called in air support to pursue gunmen who had fired on them and were escaping toward Pakistan.
The incident underscores the delicate position of US-led forces in Afghanistan trying to capture Al-Qaeda and Taleban fighters who frequently escape over the porous border into Pakistan’s sensitive tribal areas.
President Pervez Musharraf complained personally to the US last week, telling US ambassador to Pakistan Nancy Powell that the deaths were “unacceptable.” He asked Washington to launch an inquiry and punish those responsible.
Myers told Pakistan’s deputy army chief Gen. Muhammad Yusaf Khan in a phone call Saturday night that “all measures would be initiated to ensure that such mistakes were not repeated.”
He stressed that the US “attached great significance to its relations to Pakistan as an important ally in the global fight against terrorism.”
US Secretary of State Colin Powell called Musharraf on Friday to express his regrets and assured him that an inquiry was under way.
Afghan and US officials believe rebels loyal to the Taleban, Al-Qaeda and Gulbuddin Hekmatyar are launching guerrilla attacks from Pakistan and taking refuge in Pakistani tribal areas hugging the border.
