Posted by
Cary Wesberry on Sunday, July 13, 2008 12:56:25 AM
A cross border incident that resulted in Pakistani and Afghan security forces casualties was launched by the Taliban with the intent to "to spark a border incident," the International Security Assistance Force reported.
"Insurgents simultaneously fired at targets in Afghanistan and Pakistan on the evening of July 10," ISAF reported in a press release. Afghan police in Paktika province and a Pakistani military unit along the border in South Waziristan reported taking mortar fire at the same time, the US military stated. Eight Pakistani soldiers and four Afghan police were reported wounded in the initial attack.
The US military determined the origin of mortar fire to have started at two points inside Afghanistan and returned fire with artillery and a laser-guided GBU-13 bomb dropped from an F-15. The US fires were "verified to have hit the origins of insurgent fire."
The initial reports of the incident were confused, and focused on the attack inside Pakistan. News reports speculated that the US military launched a Predator air strike or artillery attack on a Pakistani military outpost.
The Afghan Army and police and the US military have repelled a series of attacks in the border provinces of Paktia, Paktika, and Khost over the past three weeks. The Taliban are attempting to destabilize the eastern region and overrun Afghan government centers and Coalition bases. Attacks in the east are up by more than 40 percent from last year, according to the US military. More than 200 Taliban fighters have been killed during the clashes. Many of the attacks have originated from Pakistan.
Tensions along the ill-defined, rugged border have escalated since the Pakistani government initiated its latest round of peace accords with the Taliban and allied extremists in the tribal areas and settled districts in the Northwest Frontier Province. Peace agreements have been signed with the Taliban in North Waziristan, Swat, Dir, Bajaur, Malakand, Mohmand, and Khyber. Negotiations are under way in South Waziristan, Kohat, and Mardan. The Taliban have violated the terms of these agreements in every region where accords have been signed.
The Taliban will continue to be an extreme threat to stabilizing Afghanistan until the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan is secured and attempts to cross are halted. Without a military crackdown along those border regions the Taliban will run wild back and forth causing as much death and destruction as they can on both sides.
Pakistan, instead of being an ally in the war against the Taliban, decides that negotiations and signing "peace treaties" with the Taliban is in their best interest. This should not stop our leaders from doing what should have been done years ago. As long as the Taliban has safe haven in Pakistan, killing them inside Afghanistan won't stop them or even thin their numbers. We have already seen time and again just how well the Taliban can recruit inside Pakistan. The Madrassas in Pakistan provide an endless supply of new recruits into Jihad.
If Pakistan wants to play politics with the Taliban then let them. For our part, we have a war to fight in Afghanistan and I want to see that border sealed along with the destruction of any Taliban bases in range of our guns on the other side. From this a more peaceful and secure state will ensue inside Afghanistan and reconstruction efforts will significantly increase.