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WASHINGTON, D.C. (June 24, 2008) - Senior U.S. and Pakistani
military officials are working hard to improve communications and
collaboration between their organizations, especially with regard
to operations along the 450-mile-long Afghanistan-Pakistan border,
a senior U.S. officer posted in Afghanistan said today.
U.S.-Pakistani relations were roiled after Pakistan claimed that
11 of its troops were killed during a June 10 U.S. air strike aimed
at insurgents operating near the Afghanistan-Pakistan border.
A joint U.S., Afghan and Pakistani military investigation of the
incident is ongoing, Army Maj. Gen. Jeffrey J. Schloesser,
commander of Combined Joint Task Force 101 and 101st Airborne
Division told Pentagon reporters during a satellite-carried news
conference.
"When I met with my counterpart there in Pakistan, I expressed
condolences to any loss of life, and we agree that we look forward
to collaborating and communicating better," said Schloesser, who
arrived in Afghanistan in April and also heads counterinsurgency
operations for NATO's Regional Command East.
Schloesser has made three trips to Pakistan over the past three
months, he said, to meet with senior Pakistani army leaders.
Insurgents travel back and forth along the Afghanistan-Pakistan
border, he said. Some insurgents, he said, also are known to
maintain camps in the federally administered tribal area in
Pakistan's remote northwestern region.
"The enemy is taking refuge and operating with what I will call
some freedom of movement in the border region," Schloesser said,
"and they're using this sanctuary to reconstitute, to plan and to
launch attacks into Afghanistan."
Some insurgents, he said, are trying to stir up trouble between
U.S. and Pakistani troops aligned along the border.
"They try to get between us and our Pakistani army colleagues
and try to not only just cause absolute confrontation, but real
firing between the two of us," Schloesser said. Meanwhile, senior
U.S. and Pakistani military officials are working hard to keep the
lines of communication open, the two-star general said.
"We are trying to build on lines of communication between
ourselves and our Pakistani (army) colleagues," Schloesser said, by
routinely using radios and cell phones as well as meetings to keep
one another up to date on conditions along the border.
Senior Afghan army leaders also are involved in discussions on
border issues, Schloesser said.
A border coordination center that recently opened near the
historic Khyber Pass that links Afghanistan and Pakistan should
facilitate better collaboration and communications between Afghan
and Pakistani border security personnel, the general said.
"I think both sides understand that the relative sanctuary that
is achieved along that border area is damaging to both Afghanistan,
as well as to Pakistan," he observed. "And I think both sides
understand that that cannot continue."
Schloesser expressed optimism that U.S., Afghan and Pakistani
military officials "can work more closely, as I've already
described."
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