Afghans say fire from Pakistan led to air attacks

AP/Washington Times:
 Afghan troops and coalition forces came under fire from the direction of two Pakistan army border posts, prompting them to call in NATO airstrikes that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers, Afghan officials said Sunday. The account challenges Islamabad’s claims that the attacks, which have plunged U.S.-Pakistanties to new lows, were unprovoked.
It also pointed to a possible explanation for the incident Saturday on the Pakistani side of the border. NATO officials have complained that insurgents fire from across the poorly defined frontier, often from positions close to Pakistani soldiers, who have been accused of tolerating or supporting them.
...
The Afghan officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue, said that it’s unclear who attacked the forces taking part in the joint operation before dawn Saturday, but that the soldiers were fired upon from the direction of the Pakistani border posts that were hit in the strikes.
... 
It is likely that the Pakistan high command is getting false information from its survivors who do not want to admit they were sheltering Taliban fighters.  The US needs to get its response out quickly or it will be losing the battle in the information battle space.

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