US and Afghan Attack Taliban in Pakistan

The US and Afghan forces rode by helicopter into Pakistan on Wednesday to strike at a Taliban target in the village of Musa Nika. No fewer than 20 people are dead, and Pakistan is lodging a formal complaint. Mohammed Sadiq, a spokesman for Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry, said, “Such actions are counterproductive and certainly do not help our joint efforts to fight terrorism. On the contrary, they undermine the very basis of cooperation and may fuel the fire of hatred and violence that we are trying to extinguish.” One can expect more such raids, however.

International law is pretty clear about this kind of thing. The US and Afghan forces could quite legally enter Pakistani territory without the consent of the Pakistani government but only in a case of “hot pursuit.” This is a very specific situation in which Taliban forces would have committed some violent crime to which US and Afghan forces responded, and they would have to chase the Taliban into Pakistan. So long as those US and Afghan forces could see or otherwise track the fugitives, it is a case of hot pursuit.

That doesn’t appear to be what happened. Instead, the US and Afghan commandos flew in and shot the place up before evacuating by helicopter. The Washington Post said, “Pakistani sources gave varying accounts, including on the number of troops and helicopters involved, and on whether US troops were among those who left the helicopters and conducted a ground operation in the village. There were also differing versions of how far inside Pakistan the helicopters flew, because the border's location is disputed. By one count, the target village lay about 20 miles from the border.” There was no comment from the US government.

International law aside, this is the kind of thing that is going to make a great many in Pakistan question whether the US forces or the Taliban fighters are the bad guys. The US has pressured the Pakistani military to do more to fight the insurgents. In the last two months, there have been more Pakistani attacks on tribal forces in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas. So, this incursion appears to be a vote of no confidence in the Pakistani military's actions. The response from Islamabad is likely to be lessened cooperation.

The new government in Pakistan also has a dog in this fight. It cannot allow itself to seem weak. The raid demonstrated to the average Pakistani that the government cannot defend its territory. That is dangerous. The situation in Pakistan after the resignation of President Musharraf is unstable, and this undermining of what is supposed to be an ally in the war on terror makes it more, rather than less, likely that the Taliban will gain support in Pakistan.

© Copyright 2008 by The Kensington Review, Jeff Myhre, PhD, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent. Produced using Fedora Linux.

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