PAKISTAN OFFICIALLY PROTESTS JANUARY 22 ISAF

S E C R E T ISLAMABAD 000430

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/14/2017
TAGS: AF MOPS PK PNAT PREL
SUBJECT: PAKISTAN OFFICIALLY PROTESTS JANUARY 22 ISAF
BOMBING THAT KILLED PAK FRONTIER CORPS TROOP


Classified By: Ambassador Ryan C. Crocker, Reasons 1.4 (b) and (d)


1. (S) Summary: On January 23, the Foreign Ministry
convened the Ambassador to protest the January 22 death of a
Frontier Corps soldier and the wounding of two others during
the bombing of a militant target in Afghanistan near the
Pakistan border. The Ambassador expressed regret for the
loss of life and stressed that the event highlighted the need
for the U.S. and Pakistan to improve tactical-level
communications, since Forward Operating Base Bermel was
unable to reach the Pakistan border post by radio prior to
the incident. The Ambassador and the Foreign Ministry agreed
that a joint investigation of the event was important. The
Government of Pakistan was working to tamp down potential
negative reactions to the incident. End Summary.


2. (C) On January 23, Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Additional Secretary (Americas) Shahid Kamal convened
Ambassador to protest the January 22 deployment of a JDAM
bomb that, according to Pakistan, killed a Frontier Corps
soldier from the Shawal Rifles and injured two others. Kamal
reported that the Government of Pakistan had already
protested to ISAF and to Office of Defense Representative -
Pakistan. Kamal noted that the situation in the Tribal Areas
was "hot" and that incidents such as this caused public
resentment that could harm cooperation between Pakistan and
the U.S. He cited the Pakistan Senate's emotional discussion
of the bombing on January 23 as an example of how the
incident might play in parts of Pakistan.


3. (S) Noting that the investigation was just getting
underway, the Ambassador expressed deep regret for the loss
of the soldier's life and sent his sympathies to the family
of the deceased and wishes for a speedy recovery to the
injured soldiers. The Ambassador then recounted his
understanding of the incident: the afternoon of January 22,
militants attacked Forward Operating Base Bermel. As the
attackers fled toward the Pakistan border, a fixed wing U.S.
aircraft engaged them. U.S. bombs detonated on the Afghan
side of the border, where the militants were located at the
time of engagement. A Pakistan border post was nearby; the
explosion may have killed a soldier present at the post.


4. (S) The Ambassador assured Kamal that the U.S.
understood the incident's potential impact on Pakistani
public opinion and said the two sides must work to ensure
that such an event did not occur again. Our militaries
needed to develop better ways to communicate at the tactical
level; FOB Bermel had attempted to raise Pakistani
counterparts by radio, but had received no reply. The U.S.
and Pakistan needed to develop better ways to deal with their
common enemy, stressed the Ambassador. Militant activity
along the border was increasing, and the enemy wanted to
encourage incidents like this one in order to cause injury to
our relationship. The Ambassador reminded Kamal that the
U.S. had presented proposals to Pakistan to improve tactical
communications; we must move forward on those proposals.


5. (C) The Government was keen to tamp down negative
repercussions, stressed Kamal, and the Government's press
releases were stressing that the incident had been a mistake.
Kamal understood that Pakistan and the U.S. would
investigate the event together, and he hoped that ISAF and
the U.S. would also carry out an internal investigation to
prevent such an incident from occurring again. The
Ambassador said an investigation had already begun. He
thanked the Government for its work tamping down negative
reaction and said it was unthinkable that there was any
mal-intent on the U.S. part in the incident. The two
governments needed to work together to make that point.



CROCKER