Pak troops, US copters trade fire

With tensions high, the Pentagon quickly reacted to Thursday’s shooting, saying that the two US helicopters were flying inside Afghanistan when they came under fire from Pakistani troops along the border and called the incident an “unfortunate misunderstanding.”

“They are confident that they were in Afghan airspace the whole time,” said Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman.

“It appears to be an unfortunate misunderstanding,” said Whitman, adding that the helicopters suffered no damage or casualties.

He said the US military “contacted the Pakistani military immediately after the incident from what I understand and they are working to ensure that the coordination measures are such that that doesn’t happen in the future,” he said.

Whitman said the coalition immediately requested an explanation from Pakistan for what he described as a “troubling” incident.

“It would be fairly hard to mistake a helicopter flying in that region as anything but Isaf or US,” Whitman said.

He said the militants had always tried to exploit the border region.

“It’s a challenge along the border and that’s why we continue to look for ways to improve our coordination,” Whitman said.

Asked how Pakistani forces could mistake US helicopters for enemy forces - especially since Taliban and Al-Qaeda forces don’t have aircraft, Whitman said: “Only Pakistan can articulate their intent.”

A State Department spokesman also said Washington wanted an explanation from Pakistan, commenting that “the Taliban are not flying helicopters.”

“We have been in touch with the Pakistanis about this and we certainly want to have an explanation,” the spokesman said.

“These Isaf helicopters were operating inside Afghan territory, and as far as I know, the Taliban are not flying helicopters. So we want to find out what happened and the Pakistanis are trying to give us an explanation.”