Pakistan army chief criticizes US crossborder raid

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(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-09-11 09:26

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan -- Pakistan's military chief lashed out at the United States over crossborder raids by American troops from Afghanistan and said his country's sovereignty will be defended "at all cost."

Pakistani traders burn a US flag to protest against strikes in Pakistani tribal areas along the Afghan border, in Multan September 10, 2008. [Agencies]

In an unusually strong public statement, Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani said a raid last week into Pakistan's South Waziristan region killed innocent civilians and could backfire on the anti-terror allies.

Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman would not comment directly on Kayani's remarks. But he said the US military is working closely with the Pakistanis in regard to the border region.

"We have a shared common interest with respect to terrorism and terrorist activities," Whitman said. "Pakistan recognizes the challenges that they have, and the United States is committed to helping allies counter terrorism."

But Kayani said such operations were covered by no agreement between Pakistan and US-led forces in Afghanistan and risked stoking militancy in a region which Washington regards as an intolerably safe haven for al-Qaida and Taliban militants.

"Falling for short term gains while ignoring our long term interest is not the right way forward," Kayani said, according to the statement released through the military's media wing.

The Pakistani government already hauled in the US ambassador to Islamabad to lodge a stiff protest over a highly unusual raid by helicopter-borne grounds troops that residents said killed about 15 people.

US officials have acknowledged that American troops carried out the operation, but have provided no details. The objective and results of the mission remain unclear.

Along with a barrage of suspected US missile strikes into Pakistan's border zone, the raid indicates that Washington is getting more aggressive against militant targets beyond Afghanistan's frontier, despite the political fallout in Pakistan, a key US ally.

A US missile strike Monday in the North Waziristan tribal region destroyed a seminary and houses associated with a veteran Taliban commander and killed 20 people, including some women and children as well as four foreign militants, officials said.

The tribal belt is considered a possible hiding place for Osama bin Laden and al-Qaida No. 2 Ayman al-Zawahri.

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