Pak troops were supporting Taliban when bombed

Washington Post:

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Fighting erupted Tuesday evening when Afghan troops tried to establish a check post near the village area of Sheikh Baba in the Mohmand tribal region, along the knife's-edge border between the two countries, according to villagers and Pakistani military officials.

Taliban militants apparently opened fire and were then joined by Pakistani military forces, setting off an hours-long battle. It is unclear what prompted the initial exchange of fire.

The skirmish at the edge of Pakistan's restive tribal areas expanded further when Afghan soldiers called NATO forces for air support, and U.S. military aircraft reportedly launched a strike in the area.

U.S. military jets dropped more than a dozen bombs inside and along the Pakistan border with Afghanistan during a clash that lasted several hours Tuesday, Pentagon officials said Wednesday.

Two Air Force F-15E jets and a B-1B Lancer bomber dropped the bombs, which included both precision-guided and unguided munitions and weighed between 500 lbs. and 2,000 lbs., the officials said. The bombs, known as GBU-12, GBU-31 and GBU-38, were dropped in different locations covering an area of about 1,000 yards, according to the officials and a summary of the air munitions provided by the U.S. military's Combined Air and Space Operations Center for Southwest Asia.

The bombs were used "to destroy anti-coalition members in the open and in buildings in the vicinity of Asadabad," Afghanistan, a statement released by the center said. An air controller "reported the missions successful," it said.

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The bombastic response from Pakistan was probably to cover the fact that their forces were supporting the enemy. The US obviously hit what they were aiming at and it apparently was not a mistake as previously suggested. Pakistan either has poor command and control of these forces or it is actively aiding the enemy in violation of its agreement with the US.

Pakistan better get a grip on its forces and its emotions or it will escalate into a confrontation it cannot win. The US is not going away until Afghanistan is secure and al Qaeda is destroyed. The fast way to get us to leave is to help us destroy al Qaeda and the Taliban. Pakistan will learn a whole new meaning of the term isolation if it decides to fight on the side of the terrorist.