Political India: Engaging America

The United States has ironically risked escalating anger in Pakistan over the November 26 North Atlantic Treaty Organisation attack, as it issued a half-baked apology for the “misunderstanding,” and defended NATO for acting in “self defence and with appropriate force after being fired upon.”

Following the killing of 24 Pakistani soldiers the shooting incident in Mohmand near the Afghan border tensions were inflamed and Pakistan subsequently closed down a vital NATO supply route and denied the U.S. any further access to an important air base in Shamsi in Baluchistan.

In a formal statement the Pentagon did however echo earlier sentiments expressed by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Secretary of Defence Leon Panetta when it said it felt “deepest regret... for the loss of life and for the lack of proper coordination between U.S. and Pakistani forces that contributed to those losses.”

While the Pakistani establishment was reported to have called for an outright apology from U.S. President Barack Obama the White House has thus far refused to oblige. Mr. Obama spoke with Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari on the telephone and offered his condolences a further response from the President was shelved pending the outcome of the military probe.

Reporting back on an investigation that the U.S. undertook following the attack, the Pentagon also said that the findings and conclusions had been shared with the Pakistani and Afghan governments, as well as key NATO leadership.

Further diluting its apology the U.S. noted that the investigating officer found that U.S. forces, had acted based on what information they had available to them at the time and there was no intentional effort to target persons or places known to be part of the Pakistani military, or to deliberately provide inaccurate location information to Pakistani officials.

Placing blame squarely on inaccurate information about “the true location of Pakistani military units,” officials said that such gaps in information about the activities and placement of units “from both sides,” contributed to the tragic result.

Seeking to douse growing anti-American sentiment in Pakistan the U.S. also sought to reach out directly to its people, saying, “We further express sincere condolences to the Pakistani people, to the Pakistani government, and most importantly to the families of the Pakistani soldiers who were killed or wounded.”

Commenting on its future course of action the Pentagon statement noted that its focus would be to “learn from these mistakes and take whatever corrective measures are required to ensure an incident like this is not repeated.” While this might entail a review of outstanding questions of accountability, the U.S. said that it would seek to work with Pakistan to improve the level of trust between our two countries.

“We cannot operate effectively on the border -- or in other parts of our relationship -- without addressing the fundamental trust still lacking between us. We earnestly hope the Pakistani military will join us in bridging that gap,” the Pentagon statement emphasised.