KABUL: A US-led investigation into a Nato air strike that killed 24 Pakistani troops near the Afghan border will report its initial findings by December 23, officials said Tuesday.
The chief of US Central Command, which oversees US forces in Afghanistan and the Middle East, appointed Brigadier General Stephen Clark, a one-star air force general, to lead the investigation, the US military announced.
The probe is expected to provide an initial report by December 23, it added.
Pakistan has reacted to Saturday's air strike with fury, cutting off crucial supply routes to Nato forces in Afghanistan, and ordering US personnel to vacate an air base reportedly used by CIA drones and a review of US relations.
Clark will lead the investigation with input from Nato and its International Security Assistance Force, which has 130,000 troops in Afghanistan in addition to an extra 10,000 American forces operating under separate command.
The Afghan and Pakistani governments are also being invited to take part, despite Pakistan's furious response to the attack.
"It is USCENTCOM's intent to include these government representatives to the maximum extent possible to determine what happened and preclude it from happening again," the US military said.
"The investigation team will focus their efforts on the facts of the incident and any matters that facilitate a better understanding of the circumstances surrounding the deaths and injuries of the Pakistani forces."
ISAF sent an initial assessment team to the border over the weekend.
A Western military official in Kabul, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the probe team had yet to arrive in Afghanistan but insisted its findings would be reported "way quicker" than initially expected.
The source said it was not unusual for US Central Command to carry out this kind of investigation rather than ISAF, which usually undertakes probes into incidents such as civilian casualties.
ISAF refused to comment when asked whether US Special Forces had been operating in the area when the air strikes were called in.
Islamabad insists that the air strikes were unprovoked, but Afghan and Western officials have reportedly accused Pakistani forces of firing first.
Before Saturday's attack, US military officers had been working to shore up cooperation with Pakistani forces along the Afghan border.
Communication between units on the border virtually broke down in the aftermath of a US raid in May that killed al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden at his Pakistani compound, sending US-Pakistani relations into free fall.
COMMENTS (22)
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Rk wshington is not Pakistanis capital Washington is the capital of worlds biggest layer and face of real evel in this world zayonest siting ther think that thay can Fool the Intire world coz thay live in heven of fools so cut the crap and try to be honest to amaricans and the world just once for a Chang.
@Meekal Ahmed: Good questions. Why do you expect probe initiated by US to know the facts? The people who know the answers to this are in AHQ and they are not keen to respond to it. They are either busy manufacturing conspiracy theories or planning to buy toys that they will not use when need arises.
In previous such incident last year, Pakistan was found guilty of firing first too. [Initially Pakistan claimed NATO fire was unprovoked but later, after joint investigation, opposite was proven]
I won't believe the probe either unlesss the Pakistani side answers the question:
WHERE WAS OUR AIR-FORCE?
Where are all those fancy Block D F-16's and airborne surveillance aircraft that we have spent billion on during a battle that lasted one and a half hours?!
Can anyone here tell me?
It takes less than 1 second to kill 25 men, and it will take General Clark about a month to work out what happened in 1 second. He is quick isn't he? Whilst the General is pondering what sort of cover-up he will eventually produce perhaps he should take a peek at the Christian bible he takes to his Sunday church service. The King James version is peppered with minor comments such as "thou shalt not kill", and "thou shalt not covet thy neighbors goods". I am really quite perplexed with the Americans. I am wondering what part of the sentence: "thou shalt not kill" they do not understand. After all, I have noticed on television that American Presidents make a big show of going to Sunday church service with a bible clutched in their hands. Further to this God is an important figure in anybodies language, and if God says: "thou shalt not kill" we should do what he says. Now I know that General Clark is in the killing business so he might be hard to convince, but if lots of people send him a short note pointing out that God does not like killing he will at least know that his God disapproves of what the Americans are doing. It will not do any good, but at least we can say we tried.
It is only delaying tactics by the US. It is not a rocket science to investigate this incident that will take so long.
@Bilal: Agree with your observation. The timely presence of PAF jets on the incident site could have saved many lives as NATO would not have attacked them and gone back to their bases, fearing backlash from Pakistan.
No need to forget that they also investigated 9-11 incident and the outcome we all know
@Bilal: meray bhai you know the cojones required to do such action is not in our politicians and top brass
@muhammad adnan: because we are already at war with them. NATO was SUPPOSED ALLY
Even the probe report would implicate Pakistan...given the double standards of USA in the past.. Who believes reports by US ....remember WMD in Iraq.
@muhammad adnan:
because they are CIA funded terrorist.
I don't believe in the proble.
My brothers are killed and wounded in the unproved attacks at Mohmand Agency. They will not come bck in this world.
US and NATO are killers. This is what I only believe.
It is crystal clear that this tragic incident has been carried out with the consent of the USA as it commands the NATO troops. So why on earth they are going to investigate it, these are the delaying tactics and we should not consider this kind of initiatives.
Lets part ways with U.S & put an end to this once & forever!!
if the attack continued for 2 hours ....Why didnt pakistan F-16's fly and shoot the infiltrators(Provided F-16's response time is 10 minutes all over Pakistan).....Why are we not asking this question...........
US is taking almost a month to publish the findings of the probe which appears to be delaying tactics to ensure that this ghastly incident is forgotten during this period.
vey sad to see the funerals and relatives of the soldiers killed by NATO,but why isn't there such media coverage and media condemnation when the religious extremists kill our soldiers? why isn't there coverage of their funerals,thousands of our brave soldiers have been brutally killed by the religious terrorists but no milli naghmay are played on tv when they get killed by the religious militants? why these double standards by our media and society?
Why the government of Pakistan (GoP) is not probing this tragic event? Are the people entitled to know the facts?