USA’s Two ‘Top Allies’ Exchange Fire

“Come on you two…stop fighting…and I say it from my heart…” A file photo of President Bush flanked by President Musharraf and President Karzai.

I wonder what sort of ‘War-Against-Terror’ is going on with the soldiers of the two top allies of the the United States exchanging fire among themselves across the Pakistan and Afghanistan border and killing and injuring their own troops.

“Pakistani and Afghan forces exchanged fire at their rugged border Sunday in their most serious skirmish in years. Pakistan claimed it killed six Afghan soldiers, but Afghanistan said just two Afghan civilians were killed,” reports Sadaqat Jan, Associated Press Writer.

“Tension has been running high between Afghanistan and Pakistan, both key U.S. allies, over controlling their 1,510-mile shared border and stemming the flow of Taliban and al-Qaida militants that stage cross-border attacks inside Afghanistan. Pakistan’s move to fence parts of the disputed frontier has also angered Afghanistan.

“Pakistan army spokesman Maj. Gen. Waheed Arshad accused the Afghan army of firing at Pakistani border posts: ‘This was unprovoked and without any reason.’

“On the Afghan side, Defense Ministry spokesman Gen. Mohammad Zahir Azimi accused Pakistani forces of crossing more than a mile into Afghanistan’s Paktia province.

” ‘Border police tried to stop them, and the Pakistani army started firing heavy weapons toward the Afghan forces,’ he said.”

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President Bush knows well about the continuing friction between Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai and President Pervez Musharraf of Pakistan. A few months ago when they were invited to a White House dinner, the two exuded extremely bad vibes in public and refused to talk to each other.

With the two US top allies at each other’s throat, no wonder that Afghanistan remains on the boil. I wonder whose hospitality the most wanted “terrorist’ in the US list is enjoying at the moment.