Posts Tagged ‘Afghanistan’

Pakistani military fires on US helicopters at border

Bill Roggio:

The Pakistani military fired on US helicopters as they attempted to cross the border in Pakistan’s Taliban-controlled tribal agency of North Waziristan, according to reports from the region. The latest US incursion comes just two days after a suicide bombing destroyed the Marriott Hotel in the heart of Islamabad. A little-known terror group took credit for the strike.

As usual, it’s tough to know who, if anyone, is telling the truth.

“There was no such incursion; there was no such event,” Colonel Gary Keck, a Defense Department spokesman told The Associated Press.

U.S. Officer: Pakistani Forces Aided Taliban

Defense News:

Pakistani military forces flew repeated helicopter missions into Afghanistan to resupply the Taliban during a fierce battle in June 2007, according to a U.S. Marine lieutenant colonel, who says his information is based on multiple U.S. and Afghan intelligence reports.

You really should read the whole thing. A lot of the claims are based on observations by Afghan intelligence, and even if true it’s not clear that Pakistani forces are operating under official orders.

I was going to post about this last night but didn’t get to it. Then today, out of the blue, I get an email from a friend in France wondering how things are going. So I dug up a picture taken today and here ya go:

French President Nicolas Sarkozy, center left, arrives to meet with French soldiers from the 8th regiment of paratroopers, survivors of the Taliban's ambush of Ouzbine, in Warehouse camp in Kabul, Afghanistan, on Wednesday August 20, 2008.

Though a lot of American are pretty critical of the French when it comes to international affairs and the war, let’s not forget that we are, after all, on the same side. There are going to be many more days in Afghanistan like the day that left ten French troops dead, and the more friends and allies we have, the better.

So, in the spirit of friendship with my buddy the frog, let’s all just get along for a while.

From an American perspective, Sarkozy’s election is a mostly positive development. From a French perspective, the election of anyone besides Bush this fall will probably be seen as a positive development.