NATO, Afghan govt not on same page

ISLAMABAD - The NATO and Afghan government are not on same page regarding investigations into the killings of US Navy Seals in an Afghanistan province as the post-incident scenario continues to be marked with conflicting versions coming from the two sides. While the official version of North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) given to this newspaper is dismissive of any possibility with regard to the participation of those US Navy Seals who got killed during an offensive launched against the terrorists in Afghanistans Wardak province on Saturday, an Afghan governor is convinced that the dead US Navy Seals might have participated in Abbottabad operation. This lack of coordination, nevertheless, appears to establish one of the reasons for the inability of seemingly fruitless decade long war on terror in Afghanistan to yield any significant results against the militants. In response to this newspapers queries on Saturday night incident, International Security Assistance Force (ISAF)/ NATO spokesman in Afghanistan, Brigadier General Carsten Jacobson, ruled out any significant possibility that could ascertain that the US Navy Seals killed during Saturday operation had participated in hunting down worlds major terror threat Osama bin Laden. According to him, the investigations were still at an early stage and there were some trails up to a reasonable amount to believe that the US night vision chopper was not rocketed down and it might have crashed due to some technical issue. Were looking deep into it, Jacobson told this scribe by phone from Kabul on Monday. On the other hand, the governor of Wardak province, Haleem Fidai, believed that the causalities occurred during US Navy Seals raid on militants possibly formed most of those soldiers who had taken out Osama bin Laden on May 2 in Abbottabad, this year. From our side, Afghan National Police are looking into the issue. Theres quite a possibility that the killed US commandos had taken part in Abbottabad operation. Our reports suggest that the Unit 6 of the US Navy Seals in Afghanistan comprises many of the men who had accomplished the most high value mission in Abbotabad, Fidai, in a telephonic conversation from Maidan Shar, the capital of Wardak province, told The Nation. He said that there was total blackout in the Maidan area where operation was launched on Saturday due to the disruption of power supply ahead of the operation. But, this, the governor said, did not explain the helicopters crash, for the Chinkook helicopter had night vision features. Fidai clarified that his views were based on Our first hand information and we dont represent international communitys, NATOs or ISAFs views that could be different on this. You better talk to them to get their set of ideas, the governor suggested to this scribe. Carsten Jacobson says that the Saturday operation was launched against Taliban militants based in Wardak to hunt down one of their commanders. However, Haleem Fidai claims he has reports that those highly trained militants might be from Hizb-e-Islami Gulbadin. Commonly known as HUG, Hizb-e-Islami Gulbadin is a militant organisation run by Afghan warlord Gulbadin Hikmatyar. The HUG remains at odds with the Taliban due to ideological differences. The NATO spokesman did not officially confirm whether the destroyed chopper was CH-47 Chinkook, as widely reported in international media. The spokesman declined to comment on whether the names of the killed US troops would be made public. According to multiple reports, 31 US troops including 21 to 25 US Navy Seals were killed when a CH-47 Chinkook chopper carrying the troops was reportedly rocketed down by militants as US forces tried to take out a Taliban commander in Maidan Wardak on Saturday night, in what was termed as single deadliest day for coalition forces in Afghanistan in a decade.

ePaper - Nawaiwaqt