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Mullen: More Pakistan border fights likely

Accidental firefights between national forces operating along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border, such as the Thursday incident in Khost, are likely to continue despite efforts to prevent them because of a combination of border tension, the proximity and variety of forces, and the rugged, complex terrain, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs said today.

But contrary to a recent comment by a Pakistani army spokesman that his country’s troops have orders to fire at U.S. personnel and helicopters operating in the border region, Adm. Mike Mullen said no such orders exist.

“I’ve been given assurance by the senior military leadership in Pakistan that ... there is certainly no ... intent or plan to fire on our forces,” Mullen said at a Pentagon news conference.

But, he added, “I’m not going to be totally surprised if it happens in the future. It’s a pretty tense place.”

Pakistan’s Federally Administered Tribal Area, or FATA, which runs along that nation’s northwest border with Afghanistan, has long been viewed by U.S. officials as a safe haven for insurgents.

Mullen said it “has gotten safer” for insurgents this year, even as the insurgency itself has “gotten more sophisticated.”

There also have been incidents in which insurgents have fired upon coalition forces from positions “very close” to the border, he said.

The assurances Mullen said he has received from Pakistani officials would run counter to a Sept. 16 statement by Pakistani Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas that was reported by the Associated Press.

In response to what he said was a Sept. 3 ground attack by U.S. special operations forces, which U.S. officials have not confirmed, Abbas said, “The orders are clear — in case it happens again in this form, that there is a very significant detection, which is very definite, no ambiguity, across the border, on ground or in the air: open fire.”

Mullen, who visited with senior Pakistani military officials the same day Abbas issued that statement, said he understood Pakistani officials’ more general warnings not to violate their nation’s sovereignty and indicated he does not regard them as threatening.

“That’s the ... same kind of statement we make with respect to self-defense,” Mullen said.

Mullen acknowledged the Thursday incident, in which American military officials said a U.S. helicopter drew ground fire from a Pakistani military outpost. Pakistani officials later said only warning flares initially were fired to alert the helicopters that they were approaching the border.

Whatever was initially fired at the helicopters, the action sparked a short firefight between the outpost and a U.S.-Afghani patrol on the Afghanistan side of the border.

Mullen said he had received no specific communication or reassurances from Pakistani military leaders since that firefight.

But he also noted that forces on both sides do communicate and that “both sides pulled away pretty quickly once it was understood what was going on.”

Mullen said a “deconfliction mechanism” that entails liaison “junior to senior” officers is in place and has been “for some time.”

Mullen could not say precisely how far down the organizational chain such officers are assigned but said during a visit to Peshawar several months ago that he had met “very junior” Pakistani army officers who are in “direct contact” with their U.S. counterparts.

He declined to say whether U.S. aviators had been given orders to steer clear of the border area.

Mullen said his staff is working on a review of military strategy along the rugged border area that is part of a broader Bush administration strategy review of the Afghanistan-Pakistan region.

Mullen said that review should include a “broad-based focus” on Pakistan “because I think they are very much interwoven and actually have been that way for a long time.” It should also address all parties’ relations with India, Pakistan’s powerful neighbor to the east, he added.

The review will be done in time to provide recommendations to the newly elected president, said Mullen, whose term, unlike that of Defense Secretary Robert Gates, will run into the next administration.