US Embassy officials in Islamabad angrily denied media and official reports from the Pakistani government that NATO troops had fired across the border from Afghanistan into North Waziristan, damaging a number of homes and killing at least three civilians.
The statement said the report was “completely false” and that no mortars were fired, nor were any NATO troops anywhere near the border village in Afghanistan’s Khost Province.
Ironically the US has launched several air strikes from unmanned Predator drones into roughly the same area, killing large numbers of people including several children. But these attacks are generally carried out by the CIA, and not the military.
Most NATO members openly oppose the idea of launching military attacks against Pakistani territory and if it was discovered that troops had, in an official NATO capacity, fired across the border and killed civilians, it would likely cause a major scandal. Interestingly NATO members rarely complain about the drone strikes against North Waziristan, nor the civilian deaths in those, as they are generally defined as distinct from the NATO occupation of Afghanistan.