US warns Pak on cross-border attacks into Afghanistan

Amidst mounting NATO air strikes on Pakistani soil in apparent hot pursuit of militants, the US has send a stern message to Islamabad to stop cross border attacks into Afghanistan or face the consequences.

The message was conveyed to visiting Pakistan foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi from key Senate and Congress leaders including John Kerry, Carl Levin and Congressman Howard Berman.

While, Kerry is the chairman of the Senate foreign relations committee, Levin heads the armed services committee, and Berman chairs the House foreign relations committee.

The Pakistani delegation that participated in the talks came back with the feeling that the Americans were becoming "more and more assertive and less apologetic" on this issue, the Dawn newspaper reported from Washington.

The Americans argued that the Haqqani network and other insurgents were using their bases in Fata to attack US and Nato forces. They urged the Pakistanis to "make the strategic decisions they have to make to help resolve the Afghan conflict" or the Americans would be forced to use their military might to subdue the militants.

A Pentagon spokesperson Col Dave Lapan strongly defended the NATO helicopters killing three Pakistani soldiers in the Kurram tribal agency in a raid while pursuing fighters of the Haqqani network.

In a statement, the spokesperson said that Pakistani troops had fired their rifles, "as a warning", at US helicopters taking part in the raid.

"You fire at a helicopter in a combat zone, they usually take that as hostile act and return fire," the Pentagon official said.

The Pentagon is now investigating whether the raid that left three Pakistani soldiers dead was the result of a breakdown in communication among the two countries.

The US media quoted Pentagon officials as saying that Pakistan's move to block the Khyber Pass supply line in the wake of the deaths of its troops would have little impact on US military operations in Afghanistan.

While the busy border crossing at Torkham is now closed, other key transit points remain open "at last report", according to Lapan, who stressed that the US military had alternate means of bringing in fuel, ammunition and food for its soldiers.

But the long-term impact of the closure on US supply lines — and whether it is temporary — is unclear, he added. "That remains to be seen."